Crossed Wands
by AriaCloudrunner
Summary: A Beauxbatons girl moves to England with her siblings and starts fourth year at Hogwarts. There's a lot more to it than that, promise, but I wouldn't want to spoil anything... *recently undergone re-write/fic-facelift... is better now!*
1. The Letter Arrives

**~Crossed Wands  
****(mark 2, as it happens. we've undergone a re-write here)  
I decided this fic wasn't up to par, so I re-did it. Expect massive re-postings, and hey- what novelty- new chapters!**

**Please r&r, I love it when I get feeback, good or bad.  
That said, if this is craptacular to your tastes, please tell me what it is that makes it so. Then I can fix it, and hopefully become a better writer, yay!  
Of course, I'm not completely adverse to anyone showering me with praise, either...**

_**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter. (can someone please tell me if we don't actually have to do this? I mean, who would think that I do own that ludicrously lucrative franchise that is Harry Potter? cough not bitter at all... cough)**_

* * *

_Salut.  
__Je m'appelle_ _Florence Amelie Ames.  
_But you can call me Flo.

I'm French. (Well done if you worked it out.)  
But I'm also a triplet.  
Not as myself, obviously. I'm the very youngest of five.

My oldest sibling is Guillame Etienne. I call him Guy. He's tall, got dirty blonde hair, and the trademark Ames children blue eyes.  
Next down is Capucine Marie- Cina, with her perfectly crimped, light blonde shoulder-length hair and immaculate nails, skin and dress sense.  
Then, there's the three. Adrien Jaques, Didier Luc, et moi. All three dull blonde, sparkly blue eyed, and depending on the amount of sun, vaguely freckly- the only facial difference being the width of our lips (mine are distinctly girlish), and of course, hairstyles. Adrien- short; Didier- shaggy; Me: plaited down to my waist.

We all have completely different personalities, but all five of us are practically the same.

Confused?  
How do you think I feel?

Despite that convolution and confusion, though, I was part of a normal family.  
A normal, _wizarding_ family.

We all attended Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.

My Mère worked around our beautiful home in Ariège. My Père was a researcher, a man who liked to experiment.

We worked the farm during our holidays, using magic, mostly. Sometimes we would go into Mirepoix, our closest town, to sell our produce. All the Muggles loved Ames farm produce. They said it was magic, the way even during dry spells or other tough times, our crop always yielded perfection. Well, it _was_ magic, so there.

We all coexisted in the typical dysfunctional family way, Guy, with his unappreciated genius and maturity, kept us levelled. Capucine, with her seemingly endless vanity, made us laugh, and have fun. And as for the triplets, we were close at home, just as close at school.

It wasn't what you'd call the perfect nuclear life, but it was all right by me.

Then, in my third year, a letter arrived.  
It was from Guy.  
Since leaving school last year he'd been studying English at home. We had figured it was just Christmas cards. But only one piece of parchment was inside.  
Cina read it out to us.

And we learned our parents had died.  
It was a train crash. A mundane, Muggle train crash. They had both been pronounced _'morts à la scène.'  
_And it just wasn't fair.

We all came home for Christmas.

It was a sombre affair, spent in black attire and mourning. The funeral was on the 23rd of December. We scattered the ashes across our fields and erected two memorials under the old weeping willow in our back garden. The one we had all, as children, climbed up, fallen out of, and built a cubby in once before it had collapsed on Cina.

We said some words that couldn't express what we really wanted to say, and spent the night camped out next to their little headstones.

And then we went back to school.

It became our sanctuary, a place where suddenly being orphans didn't matter. But when we were alone, without our precious friends, there was a change in us all.

Cina engrossed herself in obscene flirtation, becoming more and more frivolous, uncaring of her reputation. My head was in my studies, usually sitting under the old weeping willow on the lawns. Adrien spent a lot of time climbing the ancient oaks, or swimming in the pools, or running nowhere in particular for no reason in particular. Didier absorbed himself in becoming destructive. He was given detention several times, usually for hexing the legumes at dinnertime so the carrots would jump down your trousers.  
It was a neat trick- good for cheering us all up- until it got Capucine. She and Dids got into a huge row, and everything was worse.  
The slightest thing would set us all off on our new 'hobbies'. We wrote a lot of letters to Guy, who had become our legal guardian. The school owls were never fast enough to return.

When our friends were around us, we functioned. My best friends, Zoé and Isaac, were the greatest. Isaac lent me Luc when we got annoyed with the School birds, Zoé woke me if I had a nightmare, and hugged me until the tears stopped.  
Others were there, too. Noémi and her twin Thierry. Zoé's older brother Zacharie. Even Jean-Claude, Capucine's on-off, on… off-on, off-on-off boyfriend was there for us.

We all stuck together, and we survived.

By the end of the year, we were okay. Well, as okay as you can be having just lost both parents.  
We were working as a tight-knit family. Even without our friends, we were good. Everything was good.

On our last day, packing our blue uniforms away for another year, Isaac burst into Zoé and my dormitory.

"C'est une lettre pour vous, Flo."

"Merci, Isaac."

I took the envelope and tore it open.

_Chere, tout le monde.  
_I've got a new job. It's a great opportunity- more money, nicer work- but it's in London.  
So I'm writing this now because we may have to move. To England.  
I won't do a thing without you, but it's a really, really great chance for us all.  
Hope you're all well,  
_Amour,  
__Guillame._

So that's where I'm going now.  
I'm leaving everything, my school, my friends, my home.  
What choice was there? In all reality, there was never any choice in it.

The Ames children were going to London.

And that meant we were going to Hogwarts.


	2. Hogwarts

**Here we go, first real chapter.**

**I've decided to go with the long chapter deal, so expect installments of 3000 words+  
(for example, this chapter is 4666 words long, if you were interested)  
I usually go in for the dramatic end to a chapter, but I thought I'd try something different and make sure every chapter ends at the end of a day.  
THERE WILL NOT BE A CHAPTER FOR EVERY DAY OF THE HOGWARTS YEAR- PROMISE!  
Maybe chapters will go fr more than a day, or less than... don't know at this point, I'm trying a new thing here~ If you like/don't like the new long chapter doohickey, please review and let me know!**

**So, here we go, disclaimer ya da da... don't own HP, all that jazz.  
Enjoy my version of this wizarding world.**

* * *

Back in my first year, there'd been a Triwizard Tournament, which we had hosted. I remembered the dark and heavy uniforms of Hogwarts, the strange accents, the eccentricities all juxtaposed with a fierce pride in their School. Guillame had put his name in the Goblet that year, and competed. Durmstrang had won, though. But Guy had kept a friendship with the Hogwarts competitor, a boy named Ben. It was Ben that got Guy the new job, which was something to do with the British Ministry of Magic.

So maybe I was a little sour towards Ben, but I was eager to see Hogwarts. I wondered if their palace was as beautiful as ours, or if their grounds were as sweeping and lush. Mostly I hoped I could find some friends, hopefully ones that had a bit of French.

Guy was inundated with work as soon as he arrived, so Ben graciously offered to meet us at King's Cross Station, where we would catch the train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

When we saw him, he grinned at us with ever-so-slightly-displaced teeth. "Hi, guys. Welcome to London."

"_Salut._ _Ou est…_ Where is ze train?" Capucine asked slowly.

"Platform nine and three quarters."

"_Pardon?_" Adrien and Didier blinked in unison.

"Oh. Uh… this way. Follow _moi_."

We followed him, after exchanging glances. Dids leaned over to my ear.

"_Son accent est terrible_."

"_Nous ne sommes pas ceux de parler. Nos anglais accents besoins sérieux du travail_."

"_Bon point_."

We walked in apprehensive silence after that, the only sound being the screeching of our new owl, a fluffy white bird I had named Anouk. She had been a gift from our friends, so we could stay in touch.

("_Parce que Luc besoins dormir parfois_!" Isaac had joked.)

"If you could quiet your owl, we'd be a lot less conspicuous." Ben looked poignantly at the crowds of muggles staring.

"_Oui. Tais-toi_, Anouk."

"Very effective. I don't zink birds speak French, Adrien." I teased.

"It was worz a try." He grinned.

"Alright, folks. Through there."

"Zere?"

"Yup."

"Zere, as in, ze brick wall?" I smiled sarcastically.

"Like I said, yup."

"Oh. Okay, zen." Capucine went first. Adrien pushed in front of Didier, then I was followed by Ben.

A scarlet train spewed smoke onto a platform bustling with a hundred parents, children and everything in between. Anouk went crazy.

So did Ado.

"Je viens de voir 'Arry Potter! _'Arry Potter_!"

"_Êtes-vous sérieux? Ou_?" Dids began searching over the crowd.

"Speak English, you two. And Flo, also. We should practice."

"_Oui_- Yes, Cina." I corrected, proud to show off my language skills for a moment, before submitting to childish excitement. "And I can see 'im. Over zere, 'elping someone onto ze train."

"Zis is _so cool_!" Adrien laughed. "We might meet 'is children!"

"_Super_!" We chorused as one.

"You four should get on the train. I'll get your bags." Ben offered to take our things. I hung on to Anouk. "Quickly now, it's about to leave. Have fun. Erm… _Bonne Chance_!"

With Ben's goodbye, we boarded the train.

Moving up and down, we saw compartments filled with chatting kids, just like us. Everyone was smiling. And everyone had an occupied seat next to him or her. Once, we spotted a single seat free, but passed it by. The second-to-last had three vacant, three filled.

"I'll go in ze ozzer one, back zere. See you at 'Ogwarts." Cina graciously offered and headed back.

We walked in.

"_Salut_?" I forgot to speak English.

One girl- with thick, luxuriously dark brown hair and matching smoky-lidded eyes- swivelled her head. "_Bonjour. Parle-vous francais_?" Her accent was tinged with English.

"_Nous somme francais_." I replied, my accent obviously perfect.

"Really? You're French? Shouldn't you be at Beauxbatons?" A multi-tonal brunette boy spoke.

"We were. Until now." Adrien shrugged.

"Can we sit?" Didier moved towards a seat, next to the boy.

"Well, sure." The girl shifted over to give me some space, then thumped the third person, another boy, this one looking a lot like her. "Budge up, Chris."

He moved and Ado sat. There was silence for a moment. Then the girl spoke again.

"I'm Charlotte. Call me Lottie. This is my brother, Chris, and this is Max. Max and I are in fourth year, Chris is in fifth. _Et toi_?"

"Florence. Flo. Zeese are my brozzers, Adrien and Didier. We are in fourz, too."

"So what, you're _triplets_?" Max brazenly asked.

"_Oui_." Didier glared at him.

"Somezing wrong?" Adrien added his challenge.

"Apart from the whole school transfer of French triplets, nope."

Max reminded me somewhat of Isaac. "_Tu as en retard suilement_?" I joked. My brothers got it, Max didn't.

"Did you just call me a retard?" It was his turn to glare.

Lottie came to my aid. "It means late, you fool. She asked you if you're usually late."

"Okay… why?"

"You remind me of someone."

"You're kind of strange."

"Hypocrite." Charlotte snorted.

"What?"

"Just saying to Chris about Hippogriffs. You still taking Creatures?"

"Oh, ha ha. I was about to say you three should join the club."

"What club?" I was perplexed.

"The strangeness club. We have T-shirts. And very often we have cookies, too."

"I understood ze _tee-shirts_ zere. Nozzing else." Dids scratched his head. He was perplexed.

"I'd just ignore Max if I were you. He has a certain knack for confusing even people who've spoken English from birth."

"Zat makes me feel a lot better." Adrien grinned inanely in his trademark style.

"Well, now I feel great. Thanks." Even through the alien language and accent, I didn't miss the sarcasm.

We couldn't help it. Even the ridiculed among us laughed.

It reminded me of my first year, meeting people for the first time, hoping to find a friend you could handle being in the same room with all year. I could remember the moment I realised I'd found that friend…

* * *

_"We should find a seat." I suggested._

_"Three seats. Remember our pledge." Dids reminded us._

_"Okay, Three separate compartments. Don't tell anyone your last name." Ado grinned._

_"I still don't get the point of this." I grumbled._

_"It's simple. When our names are read out we'll surprise everyone. Who knew they were triplets and all that stuff."_

_"Like I said, Dids. I don't get the point."_

_"There is no point. Go find a friend." Ado whacked my shoulder._

_Sighing, I moved for a compartment with a spare seat._

_"_Oui?_"_

_"_Salut_. Can I sit down?"_

_"Sure."_

_I was talking to a blond girl, pretty, with black streaks running through her hair, except for her bangs, styled to the side with platinum blond highlights. She wore braces._

_"_Comment t'appelle tu?_"_

_"Florence. _Et toi?_"_

_"Zoé."_

_A second girl sat opposite. She was dark-skinned and wore her black hair in hundreds of little plaits, all scrunched into a ponytail._

_"I'm Noémi. This is my brother, Thierry."_

_A boy with dreadlocks in a half hitch grinned at me._

_"Salut."_

_I sat down, next to Zoé. We were about to start chatting when the door slammed open._

_"Salut! Don't suppose you've got room- oh. Would any of you guys mind? Almost missed the train, see…" He rattled on._

_"Uh, sure. Sit down." Thierry interrupted._

_"Merci. You see, my damned owl got loose. Luc, his name is. Wouldn't stop hooting and carrying on, I was tempted to just let Maryse sit on him again-"_

_"Sorry- I didn't quite catch your name." I cut him off._

_"Oh, right. Isaac. I guess you've all had introductions, so just talk and I'll pick your names up."_

_Zoé began to laugh, thinking it was a joke._

_"What's funny?" He asked innocently._

_"Oh. Err, nothing."_

* * *

"Hell-ooo? Earth to Frenchie?"

"Don't call her zat!" Ado leaped to my defence.

"It's affectionate." Max clarified.

"Sure it is, Max. Go and get changed." Charlotte pushed him out the door.

The opposite genders went opposite ways to dress themselves. Us two girls were soon in the heavy skirts, stockings, shirts and jumpers of Hogwarts. I noticed Lottie had blue inlay on her collar. Mine was plain. The blue sent a pang through me as I thought of our soft and light Beauxbatons uniforms, complete with our blue meringue hats. Zoé, Isaac and all the rest would be wearing that by now.

I sighed.

I'd miss them.

* * *

I stepped off the train with an uncomfortable amount of trepidation. My hand was shaking, causing Anouk to get all huffy. Adrien took her cage before anyone noticed the rattling, something I grinned at him gratefully for.

"Firs' years thissway! Firs' years!" An unfamiliar accent rang across the dark platform. I was half tempted to follow it. After all, this was my first year.

Charlotte stood on the other side of me to Ado. "Welcome to Hogwarts. What do you think?"

"Is bloody cold."

She laughed at Didier's frank comment.

"Where's Cina?" I was first to think of our sister.

"Err…" Dids burst out laughing. "No idea!"

"I'll find 'er." Ado rolled his eyes before handing the cage back to me and plunging into the crowd.

"Who's _Cina_?" Chris asked.

"Capucine. My … err… _soeur_?"

"Sister." Charlotte supplied.

"_Merci_. Sister."

"_Sister?_ Wait wait wait. There's _another_ one?" Max stopped in his tracks.

"Not quads. You can't be." Chris again.

"It would 'elp if I knew what _quads_ were…" Didier puzzled.

"She's in 'er final year." I explained, going by the logic of _triplets- trois, quads- quatre _to work out what Chris had meant.

"Oh. Not as weird, then." He summarised.

"Not as weird, but still weird."

"Shut it, Max." Lottie hissed between her teeth.

A trivial argument may well have developed if it weren't for Capucine's timely arrival. "'Allo!" She beamed at my new friends.

We did introductions, meeting our sister's new friends as well- a girl named Caroline and two boys, Jake and Fergus.

"So, I assume you're all coming on the carriages with us?" Caroline, a short-haired, short-stature light brunette asked.

Adrien, Didier and I shrugged in unison.

"That's creepy." Max laughed.

"We aim to pleeze." I quipped, proud of myself.

Charlotte was thinking. "I would say so. I mean, you have to be sorted, but you're not first years, so…"

A massive shadow fell over us. We all whirled to face whatever huge thing was upon us.

"Oh, hey, Hagrid. Don't suppose you've got any idea-"

"'Ave you seen four new studen's anywhere? Old ones, they're from Beaux-"

"_Voici_." Adrien waved.

"Ah. Beau'iful. Yer ter follow tha others in tha carriages. When yer get thar, mind, go ter tha fron', ter tha 'Fessor's table. Ther'll sort yer."

We nodded, hoping we'd understood what the giant man had said in his thick accent.

"Come on, then." Chris led us through the crowd, pulling aside a horseless carriage for us all. "Hop in- ladies first." He stepped aside for Lottie, who pulled me up with her.

My brothers followed, then Chris, then Max.

It was a full carriage.

I heard Fergus saying "We'll grab this one, here, Caps," before we were whipped away by nothing.

"What spell is zis?" I asked.

"To move the carriages, you mean?" Charlotte asked.

"_Oui_."

"Thestrals." Max replied. "No spells- just Thestrals."

I shared a look with my brothers. They had no idea, either.

"What are… _zestrals_?" Asked Dids.

Chris helpfully clarified. "Big, creepy skeletal horses. You can only see them if you've seen death."

"Oh- _chemoreux_." I translated. "In French, we call zem _les chemoreux_."

"_Chemereux_?" Ado pulled a face that clearly echoed Chris' description.

"They're not that creepy-looking, you know." Max defended them.

"Can you see zem?" Dids asked. I put my hand on his shoulder to shut him up.

Max nodded, surprisingly unfazed by the impertinent question. "I saw a drive-by shooting a few years ago. Two muggles died." He paused. "I was visiting relations. I'm muggle-born." He clarified.

None of us wanted to speak.

"Sorry. Brought the mood down."

I like to think I would have said something comforting. But then the carriage stopped.

A great castle lay sprawled on the rocks before us. It was stone, dark and vaguely menacing. The shafts of golden light from the windows mocked the grim façade, as if they were innocent eyes in a killer's face.

Or maybe I was just nervous, and missing the silvery sparkle of the Beauxbatons palace.

I gripped Didier's hand. He squeezed. Adrien wriggled in-between and put an arm around us both. Cina had caught up, and rested her hand gently on my shoulder.

"Come on, zen." She encouraged. "We'll stick togezzer, it'll be okay."

Together? Well, then, that would be fine.

As we walked into the hall, we stuck close. The students milling about, taking their places, didn't affect us. We advanced to the bench running along the top of the hall. Adults sat there, smiling at us. We stood before them together.

We put on that hat one by one.

Cina…_ Hufflepuff._

Adrien…_ Gryffindor._

Didier…_ Slytherin._

Et moi?

_Ravenclaw._

Together, we'd be fine.

But we made our separate ways to separate tables.

* * *

Charlotte greeted me joyfully at the Ravenclaw table. "Flo- hey!" She glared at a boy trying to sit next to her until he moved away, leaving a space clear for me. "Sit down!"

I sat, listless in the absence of my security blankets that were my siblings.

"I was in ze same 'ouse as my brozzers and sister at Beaxbatons." I said quietly.

Lottie patted my hand encouragingly. "Chris is in Gryffindor- I still see him all the time. We're not even in the same year- you and your brother's'll still have some classes together."

"Really?"

"Every class is with another house. Relax, you'll still be as tight as… well, you'll be close." She giggled. "Here- meet Arica."

A lovely looking girl with wide blue eyes and dark blue hair smiled at me. "Hi. Pleased to meet you, Florence."

"And you." I nodded back.

"And Tammy-"

I suddenly noticed the group of girls around us. I just knew I was about to meet them all.

"And Diana-"

There were maybe six of them- I wasn't sure if I could remember half a dozen names just like that- especially unfamiliar English names.

"And Stephanie, and Grace."

I went over the names, matching them to faces so I'd hopefully remember- blue on strange blue Arica; small, dark-skinned, dark and short coiffed haired Tammy; tall, chestnut-red-brown haired Diana; slightly plump and blonde Stephanie; and the freckled, strawberry blonde Grace. I was hopeful I could remember them all.

Within two minutes I'd forgotten the plump one.

I joined in conversation when I could, hoping to catch a hint of the blonde's name, thinking maybe she was Diana, then realising it wasn't, and that I now couldn't quite recall which one Diana was.

I shut up for a while, embarrassed.

After a suitable amount of chatting time, the first years trooped into the cavernous hall, and were dutifully sorted in a way far more formal than my recent experience. I regarded them with jealousy- they all seemed happy in their houses, knowing no one else, unable to be separated from someone important.

That said, I suppressed a shrill excitement when a small, red-haired girl by the name of '_Potter, Lily'_ was called to the front.

"Is zat 'Arry Potter's daughter?" I whispered to Charlotte.

She nodded. "Her brothers are both in Gryffindor. Chris is friends with James."

"Really?"

"Uh… yeah…"

"_Cool_!" I exclaimed as quietly as possible. I saw Max stifle a grin opposite me.

The Potter girl was placed into Gryffindor, too, to the immense excitement of the table awash with crimson. I saw one tall, dark-haired boy standing on his seat, clapping and whooping.

"And _that_ would be James." Charlotte rolled her eyes.

And I was back to being jealous. James was hugging Lily, along with another boy. _They_ were all together.

The sorting finished, and the feast began.

I helped myself to a select plate of food, picking over many of the unfamiliar dishes, looking for things that even slightly reminded me of Guy's cooking. It was entirely different to what I was used to- for one, there was no serenade to accompany our meal.

"Do you not 'ave music?" I asked.

Max shook a chicken drumstick at me. "Yeah, but not over dinner. There's a school song."

I raised my eyebrows.

"I heard about Beauxbatons from my cousin." Arica leaned over. "He went over when you hosted the Tournament. Nymphs, wasn't it?"

I nodded. "Wood nymphs. Zey would… err… _chante_… chant? Err…"

"Sing?" Charlotte suggested.

That rang a bell. "_Merci_. Zey would sing to us while we ate, every evening."

"Did they do requests?" Max joked.

"Zey used to… but now, not for me, since my brozzer began to play pranks on zem."

"Which brother?" He asked.

I pointed to the green table. "Didier."

"Ah. The Slytherin one. Figures."

"_Pardon_?"

"Shut up, Max." Tammy whacked him gently.

"Why does zat 'figure'?" I pressed.

Perfectly timed, all food disappeared from the platters. The feast over, all dinner conversation halted.

"Come on, then," Max stood. "We'll show you to the tower."

"Tower?"

"The Ravenclaw Tower. Your stuff should be up there by now, and I guess they added a bed." Charlotte took my hand and led me to he doors of the hall.

"Wait-" I dashed off momentarily, locating first Adrien (well, he located me), then Didier, and finally Cina.

The triplets enjoyed a long group hug, before Cina split us up to deposit three kisses each on our cheeks. We exchanged more personal hugs, and more cheek-kisses, filling all combinations and permutations.

"_Bonne nuit_!"

"_Et toi_!"

And that was it- we parted for the evening.

* * *

The Ravenclaw Tower was very blue. At least that was familiar- and I wholeheartedly enjoyed it.

My bed, pressed in-between Arica and Charlotte's, was a four-poster draped in blue velvet. My old bed had been a wrought iron frame, not wood, and decked in a paler, lighter colour of silk. Still, it was almost familiar.

My cream suitcase was in the middle of the room, stacked against battered brown trunks. There was a note on mine saying Anouk had been taken to the Owlery… wherever that was.

The girls each grabbed their own belongings and hauled them to their beds. We pulled our drapes to change into pyjamas, and while I was doing that, I picked out a few other things from my trunk. There was a multiple-holed photoframe, showing moving images of everything Ames, from first days at school to our last Christmas together. I placed it gently on my bedside table. Secondly, I wrapped a thick grey cashmere jumper around my nightgown, to ward off the Scottish cold. And last, I tucked my mandolin case under my bed.

"What's that- a guitar?" Grace, in the bed directly opposite mine, had seen me stowing it.

"_Mandolin_." I opened the case.

She came over and had a look. "Is that French?"

"I zink ze word is ze same in English. _Mandolin_?"

"Mandolin." Charlotte demonstrated the correct English pronunciation. "And wait- you play one?"

"_Oui_. What else is a farmer to do on winter nights?" I quoted Guy's reasoning for us all playing musical instruments.

Tammy lifted my instrument out.

"You can play on it, if you would like." I offered.

The other girls seemed to be congregating on the thick carpet in the middle of the room. We joined them, allowing the mandolin to be passed around to anyone who wanted a go as we swapped holiday stories.

"I went to Siberia with my parents- visited Gran." Arica was saying as Tammy plucked the A-string.

"How was she?" Tammy asked, experimenting with some fingers on the frets.

"Insane. She's Gran. She's only in Siberia now because she's convinced tigers are actually magical beasts, and she's out to prove it."

Grace gasped. "But couldn't she get hurt?"

"She's got a wand, hasn't she?" Arica shrugged, and pulled the mandolin off Tammy.

"Right. I'm thinking in muggle terms again."

"You are muggle-born?" I asked.

"Half-blood." Grace answered. "But Mam's the witch, and my parents divorced when I was pretty young."

"I am very sorry." I apologised for bringing the subject up, concerned it was perhaps taboo.

"It's okay- actually, it's really funny- Dad never told my Step-mam about the whole witch mother thing. Lucy just thinks I go to a school near Mam- got no idea about magic at all. Last Christmas holidays I had to eat hokkien noddles with my wand to pass it off as a chopstick."

We all paused to giggle, then Charlotte took over.

"It was kin of quiet around my place. We lost Chris for two weeks- he went to stay with the Potters-"

"Lucky." Stephanie- or possibly Diana- mused.

"Yeah- we all rode out together one day, met up with them, had this massive game of no-rules Quidditch with the entire family."

My jaw dropped along with five others. The D-string twanged comically as Arica lost concentration.

"Did 'Arry 'imself play wiz you?" I asked with baited breath

Lottie nodded. "Showed James up completely- and we thought _he_ was a good seeker!"

It was becoming clear to me that Hogwarts students were much more accepting of Harry Potter's fame than we were. In fact, my hero-worship was probably going to embarrass me horribly soon, if I didn't change the subject. I therefore turned talk to my favourite game, seguing seamlessly. "Do you play Quidditch at 'Ogwarts?"

Tammy laughed. "Well, duh."

I'd embarrassed myself anyway. Excellent.

"Do you play?" Lottie asked excitedly, to my relief.

I nodded, simultaneously receiving my mandolin from Arica. I played a simple chord progression as I spoke. "I was _une Chasse_ at Beauxbatons. All zree of us played- Adrien was _une Gardien_, and Didier was _une Batteur_."

"I'm the Ravenclaw seeker." Tammy announced. "And Lottie's one of our chasers."

"You should try out for the team- we lost a chaser and beater last year. The other beater's our captain- Matthew Fletcher."

"When are zee try-outs?" Excited now, I passed off the instrument to Grace.

Tammy answered first. "I heard Fletch saying something about next week- since it's a Tournament year, you know."

"Yeah- beat Gryffindor in the friendlies." Lottie grinned.

Diana- I swear it was Diana- shared a look with Stephanie. Or the other way around. "Not likely, with the line-up they've got."

"They've lost almost half their team, though."

"Oh, yeah."

"Maybe your brother could try out, too. I assume _Gardien_'s Keeper." Lottie suggested.

"And what, was _Batteur_, Beater? 'Cause that's the one annoying thing, I guess. Slytherin still has a full team." Arica grumbled.

"Although, I guess Slytherin's not above bumping someone from the team." Tammy added. "In fact, I doubt there's much Slytherin _is_ above."

"Tamara!" Either Diana or Stephanie giggled in mock-outrage.

I would have asked someone to confirm the meaning of the comment, but, Grace had stopped playing, catching all of our attentions.

She yawned. "Something tells me we should sleep. I mean, classes start at nine tomorrow…" She tucked the mandolin back under my bed.

We took her lead and stumbled into covers and onto pillows. I lay between my heavy sheets, glad for the extra warmth afforded by the weight. This time of year in France, we would have the windows open at night for a warm breeze. If someone had opened the bay window in this dormitory, I'd have hexed her.

"Breakfast at 7.30, Flo. We'll wake you?"

"_Merci_, Charlotte."

"Nighty-night, folks." Tammy mumbled.

"Sleep tight." Arica followed.

I slept.


	3. Classes Begin

**Yaayyy- a brand-new chapter!**  
**this is not a re-vamp, or an edit. this is a whole new sparkly-shiny chapter.**

**It is also very long. Please tell me what you think of the new lengthy format- in fact please tell me anything about the content of this chapter, nigh, entire fic, in a REVIEW. I love 'em.**

**Interesting tidbit for this chapter; all Professors (not including Longbottom, Hagrid and Binns) have original names. In proper JKR fashion, these names are derived from meaningful things, to do with their subject or personality. Try to figure some of them out.**  
**Also, the French here is hopefully self-explanitory... and no one ask me to translate any of the expletives the Ames' use- I guarantee you can work it out, but you probably shouldn't. wink**

* * *

It was a traditional English breakfast for me in the Great Hall. I enjoyed it, to be perfectly frank. I'd nibbled a croissant at one stage, but it had been so different to a proper one I'd handed it over to Max, who was eating far more than me- than anyone, really… except Tammy.

I was slowly becoming acclimatised to all things new. The Hall, for example- it wasn't sparkling, like Beauxbatons, but it was magnificent. I loved the ceiling, even now showing a crisp, cornflower-blue sky with steel-grey clouds dotted about.

I was looking up, which explained why I was one of the first to notice the influx of owls.

I was used to a mail service that was somewhat quieter. Our owls used to fly into our dormitories and deliver letters to our beds.

A newspaper toppled a pitcher of milk.

Tammy grabbed for it and put it right before a drop could spill.

"Your bird has shocking aim." She tossed the paper to Arica.

"That's why I've got you, isn't it?"

Anouk did not make an appearance this morning- I wasn't expecting anything, as Guy always waited for us to send letters first.

But I did receive something. A boy maybe a year older than us passed sheets of parchment down our table. Timetables.

_MONDAY:  
__Charms  
__Care of Magical Creatures  
__BREAK  
_Transfiguration  
_LUNCH  
__BREAK  
History of Magic  
Herbology_

I scanned through mine, working out that Care of Magical Creatures was my one elective for the day, and I shared it with both Charlotte and Max. All other subjects were with my entire House year level, and one other House. Charms was Hufflepuff, Transfiguration was Gryiffindor, History was Hufflepuff again and Potions were with Slytherin. That meant I got to see both my brothers today. I was happy.

After breakfast, I allowed Lottie and Max to lead me to the Charms room, a high-ceilinged chamber with rings of desks arranged around the teacher's bench.

Our Professor was a rotund sort of man, with a cheery face and no hair to write home about, save for a few stay wisps in his ears. Being of the sensitive genre, evidently, he pulled me up in front of the assembled strangers.

"_Florence Ames_- am I pronouncing that right?" He didn't pause for a reply. "Direct from our sister school, _Beauxbatons_- now I _know_ I'm not pronouncing that right-" Again, no pause. "I've heard your syllabus is rather… intensive, so I'm looking forward to seeing some good stuff from you."

"I 'ope I can live up to my school's reputation, _Prof_."

"Very good, very good- now, sit down, there- yes, just next to Finn is fine, between him and Minuetta."

I sat where he told me, in a vacant desk between a Ravenclaw boy and a Hufflepuff girl. Minuetta beamed at me. Finn merely smiled invitingly. I was directly in front of Max, close to the rest of my friends.

"Very good." Professor Arenelson was saying again. "Now, everyone, put down your wands for a second and try the incantation; '_Accio_'."

We all spoke in unison. My accent proved to help rather than hinder for this particular spell, luckily.

"Now, with wands, everyone- point at the targets provided…" He motioned towards a large stack of cushions in the middle of the room.

I took aim and swept my tapered wand into a precise curve- the exact movement Prof Gaspardient had taught me last year to go with this same charm. Apparently Beauxbatons' syllabus _was_ more intensive.

My intended cushion shot directly towards my head. Reacting on pure instinct, I ducked.

There was a muffled 'oof' from the seat behind as it connected with someone's face.

Turned out, that _someone_ was Max. "_Accio_!" He ordered.

The pillow moved sluggishly, but its trajectory was decidedly towards me. I had just enough time to remember the sister charm. "_Depulso_!" I waved at the soft missile- which flew directly away and landed askew on the cushion pile.

"Ames! I see you've covered this, then." The professor walked up to me.

"Yes, _Prof_. Last year."

"Very good, very good. But note- you use your wand like a scythe. _Accio_ requires the smallest of flicks." He demonstrated. I copied.

Max ducked.

* * *

Care of Magical Creatures was held outside, of course. I had wrapped my throat in a thick grey scarf to ward off the biting Scottish wind, as was beginning to lament not wearing tall socks over my stockings.

We were by the side of a charming circular hut. I was escorted there by Charlotte and Max, but as soon as we reached the rendezvous, I noticed my brothers had joined this class, too. Well, we were all farmers.

I rushed up to them and immediately began chatting in French, before we were interrupted by the giant man we had glimpsed on the train platform.

"'Allo, then!" He boomed.

Didier, his back facing the man, jumped a little at the epic voice.

"Oop, soory- didn't mean ter frighten yer." He chuckled, slapping Dids on the shoulder. He winced in pain. "Ah- yer the new studen's, aren' yer?"

We nodded together.

"Well, then, yer in fer a treat." He spread his mammoth arms wide. "Welcome, fourth years, ter Care o' Magical Creatures. Now, we left off with 'Ippogriffs las' year, so I thought we'd start with summat special _this_ year."

One arm beckoned us to peer around the side of the cottage.

"Oh!" I gasped in unison with about five other girls.

"Unicorns!" I recognised Minuetta from Charms.

Max's eyes were wide even as his comments were laced with sarcasm. "Hagrid, I hope you're ready for screaming and swooning girls."

"There'll be no screamin', mind- they don' like it."

"But swooning's OK?" A Griffindor girl asked with false concern.

"Swoon away, if yer like, but you won' get ter pet 'em, then."

She winked at Adrien. "Promise to catch me?"

"No." He deadpanned.

I laughed, glad my brother had found friends, too.

"Now- they tend ter prefer girls, so if yer want ter 'ave a pet- approach real slow."

I moved forward with Charlotte, Minuetta and the Gryffindor girl. There were two other girls, too- one Slytherin, one Hufflepuff, but I didn't know them.

There were two unicorns standing before us- one, the male, was about two hands taller than the other, clearly female from the swollen belly.

"Is the mare pregnant, then, Hagrid?" Minuetta asked.

"Due in a coupl'a months. If I can catch 'em again, the foal should be acceptin' of you witches 'round Christmas."

"So we menfolk've got a theory lesson, then." Max quipped.

"Unless Diddy-yer wants a go." A Slytherin boy (who couldn't quite pronounce French) next to my brother laughed.

Dids hit him in a friendly way. "Ladies first." He pushed his friend forward.

"Don't be messin' about, now, boys. Yer don' want ter scare 'em."

"_Prof_." Didier saluted sulkily.

I ignored the boys and joined Charlotte, stroking the male. I forced myself not to be nervous, working off my experience with our old work-'horse'- a Granian named Gilbert, under a disillusionment charm. The unicorn was far prettier, and less stoic, than Gilbert had been.

"_Vous êtes manifique_." I whispered to the beast, on the off chance it understood French.

Charlotte had heard me, and winked. "_C'est vrai_."

The unicorn snuffled pleasantly, prompting an 'ooh' from all assembled- including the boys.

"Do they have names?" The unidentified Hufflepuff girl asked.

"Gilbert." Adrien called softly.

"And Gilbette." Didier added.

They dissolved into giggles, which I joined them in. The rest of the class looked at us like we were crazy.

Hagrid gave us a look to be silent. "Don' seem right ter name 'em, really."

"Clearly. They're not pets, Davies." The Slytherin girl rolled her eyes.

"She was only asking." Adrien's new friend stood up for the Hufflepuffs.

There was a momentary standoff, the two girls staring daggers at each other from across a Unicorn.

"Well, er… seems ter me like it might be time fer some theory." Hagrid announced.

The staring match was forgotten amidst a plethora of groans. Reluctantly, we left the magnificent creatures.

"Now- the Unicorn is found throughout the forests o' northern Europe…"

* * *

I spent my break writing out the notes I had taken in Creatures, translating them to legible English, owing to the scribbles I had done in class being indecipherable.

I sat in a cobbled courtyard, utilising one of the many wooden benches.

"And… 'Agrid said ze Unicorns were given a… four star classsification?"

"Ex." Max corrected.

"Eh?" I made a noise of general confusion.

"Four X."

"The Ministry of Magic uses Xs to denote classification. Not stars." Charlotte explained.

"Oh, okay. Four X classification."

Didier stared at my page. "What does zat even mean?"

I tugged my copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ out from under Adrien's head. Max flipped it open past the introduction, and read clearly; "_Dangerous_, _requires specialist knowledge_… _skilled wizard may handle_."

Ado was rubbing his ear where it had hit the table, after I had stolen his pillow. "Unicorns, dangerous?" He snorted.

Charlotte smiled. "The MOM gave Unicorns four Xs because it should be treated with respect, not because it's dangerous."

"So why does it not say zat?" Dids grumped.

Max shrugged. "It's just an exception."

"Actually, that's not the only thing that doesn't fit in the classification."

"What else is zere?" I asked, quill poised.

"_Skilled wizard may handle_. Unicorns won't let wizards near them, most of the time. It should be _witch_."

Max cuffed Charlotte. "Smart-arse."

Luckily, our break ended before Didier could get around to asking what that phrase meant. Having transfiguration next, we had to leave him.

I sat in-between Charlotte and Adrien once we reached the class. Max was on Lottie's other side, and next to Adrien sat the girl from Creatures.

She leaned around my brother to introduce herself. "Hi, I'm Pheonix." Her smile seemed apologetic for the name. "Total coincidence, I swear- my parents're the new-age muggle type." She winked.

"Florence." I said in way of reply. "Not a _coïncidence_, I really am French."

Adrien laughed quietly.

"That's exactly what he said yesterday." Pheonix explained.

"That'll be enough, McShea." The professor had entered while we were chatting. "Right- fourth-years. We'll be doing strictly revision today, don't want you turning all things awry while your heads are full of holiday nothings."

The professor was a tall, slight man, with pleasantly brown hair streaked with grey. There was a long red feather quill tucked over one ear of his simultaneously youthful and wise face.

"So. Who bothered to do the reading? And before you answer, my Griffindors, remember you're sharing a class with the swotty Ravenclaws this year, so you'd better have done something, or I'll look stupid. And then you'll look pretty stupid with donkey ears or similar embarrassing animal part." He spread his arms wide. "Who's got some homework for me?"

Sheafs of paper were thumped on desks around us. Adrien and I exchanged guilty looks, as if we had done something terribly naughty by not doing Hogwarts homework.

"O'kelly, good, Essefret, nice, Grisley, of course…" The professor reached my desk. "Why the blank space-" he paused to scrutinise my face. It was a second before it registered he didn't know me. "Oh! Beauxbatons!" He shot a glance over to Adrien. "Really should have remembered you…" He addressed the class. "Has everyone worked out by now we've got two new students?"

"Three." Pheonix pointed out.

"Actually, four." I corrected.

The professor waved our inane comments aside. "They don't count until tomorrow. Anyway, we've got Adrian-"

"_Adrien_." My brother pronounced correctly.

"-And Florence."

I didn't need to fix my name- it was the most Anglicised of all the Ames.

"So, you two, if there's something you don't know, ask away."

"Your name?" I asked dryly.

"Professor Jones." He answered. "Now, fourth-years. Who remembers the incantation for porcupines to pincushions?"

* * *

Lunch went quickly. Very quickly.

I heard Capucine from the next table in the Hall complaining about it. "English are _barbarians_. We 'ave _at least _two 'ours for lunch at Beauxbatons, and _zen_ our break. Zere is not enough time to digest!"

I think her friends were being nice about it, but really, it just wasn't in the British culture to have a three-hour gap between classes at midday. Their loss.

I was enjoyed the break after lunch thoroughly. Practically my entire House year level went to sit on the lawns in front of the lake and chat, as three classes into the year, no one was much worried about homework.

I ended up playing catch with a few of the boys and Charlotte. Our game was interrupted every few minutes by Tammy racing through and stealing the small ball out of mid-air.

"Damn bloody tossing Seeker!" Finn O'Kelly, I was discovering, had the most wonderful grasp on the English language.

Every time, Tammy would toss the ball back at such a jaunty angle only Charlotte could catch the thing without having to dive spectacularly for the ground.

Max had the ball now, and was rubbing it against his leg in preparation for his throw. He jumped a couple of times, then began a loping run, spinning the ball around his shoulder like a windmill before letting it fly. It shot like the proverbial, causing more than one person to duck and swear.

I jumped for it.

Both hands clasped the projectile firmly before my feet touched the ground again.

Finn and the rest were staring at me.

"Tryouts are on Sunday." Tammy laughed.

* * *

I had been looking forward to History. I thought it would be interesting to see the English bias on things.

_Interesting_ was not the right word.

"Professor Binns is the only ghost teacher at Hogwarts." Charlotte had explained.

"I don't know- Peeves taught me a lot…" Max joked. "Never go anywhere without your wand or a heavy book, never 'just see' if there actually is anyone in that empty room, never-"

"Shut up. Binns was the History professor in about the seventeenth century. He died at the school, and just kept teaching anyway."

"Which is a shame, really."

I had thought Max was just being silly again. I was wrong.

Twenty minutes into the lesson, I gave up listening to the ghost and read my textbook instead.

An unidentified student was shooting sparks at the floor in an array of colours. One of the boys I'd been playing catch with was now holding a Hufflepuff girl's hand and passing notes. Not a single person was paying proper attention to the lecture. Several were asleep.

That hour was the longest of my life.

We practically ran down to the Greenhouses, anxious to- quite literally- rejoin the land of the living.

Almost immediately, I found Didier, who was absorbed in trying very hard not to laugh at our Professor's name.

"_Longbottom_?" I asked incredulously.

My brother's friend nodded with a glint in his eye. "I absolutely swear."

Charlotte gave me a dirty look. "He's lovely, really."

I quieted down and sat on the long bench, opposite Didier and his friend, or as I learned he was more commonly known as, Richard.

There were unruly, spiked plants sitting in front of us, ones I didn't recognise. Clearly, others did, because when secateurs were produced, they got to work pruning them from within dragonskin gloves.

Dids and I exchanged looks. The plants were writing ever so slightly, just enough to be unnerving.

The humorously named Professor was soon on his way over to us. He looked pleasant enough- dark-haired, round-faced, and smiling.

"You're Didyer and Florance, then?"

"We are Did_i_er and Flor_en_ce, _oui_." Dids corrected precociously.

He cleared his throat. "Right. Well, uh- how much do you two know about viverspinae?"

"Practically nozing." I apologised. "'Erbology is not zat focused on at Beauxbatons."

"I zink I 'ave seen zese before, zough."

I turned to my brother. "When?"

"At ze farm."

"Farm?" The professor asked.

"_Oui_." I answered him. "In France, we lived on a farm. But we dealt mostly wiz muggle plants."

"Mostly?"

"We 'ad 'Orklumps growing, once." Didier offered.

I quickly pointed out to him that Horklumps were fauna, not flora, and besides, we didn't exactly cultivate the things.

"Well, that's OK, maybe some of your experience will come in handy, but for the moment, these are just viverspinae. Relatively harmless, but the spikes do hurt, so put on your gloves. Hold the base tightly before you cut, and then, prune just above the nubs there." He demonstrated it for us. "Only prune off the pieces with no spikes- the slimy ones, you see? They're completely harmless, so don't worry about them afterwards, you can just pile them up on the bench, it makes fine fertiliser for the other plants."

"_Merci_,_ Prof_." I thanked him before turning to work on my viverspinae.

I clipped two slimy ends off, lining them up carefully beside me.

Something slippery slapped my cheek, then slithered down my neck.

I looked up to see Dids' face, contorted in silent laughter. He'd thrown a cutting at me!

I checked to make sure no one was watching, before flicking one back at him. He dodged, and it hit Richard. I grimaced, thereby proving I was the culprit.

Max had been watching, and immediately took aim. "Don't you dare, Slytherin." He warned, offshoot held aloft.

Didier hit him square in the nose. The slime left a faint glisten down his chin.

What followed was the quietest and strangest fight I'd ever been involved in- not that I ever got into many fights, of course. Even Charlotte got involved, hurling bits and pieces of the poor plants at each-other.

By the end of the hour, we were covered in slime, and our sides hurt from containing laughter. We quickly tried to wipe the mess up with the fronts of our jumpers before Proffesor Longbottom came around to collect our- in the case of Didier and mine- mangled plants.

"Not bad for a first effort." Our kindly teacher complimented us.

I answered with a very guilty '_merci'_.

* * *

I was more than happy to accompany my fellow Ravenclaw fourth-years back to the lakeside after classes. However, this time I shafted the game of catch for my books.

I was pouring over my Herbology text, working out how far behind I was. The short answer appeared to be 'quite a bit'.

"Chin up." Max sat with a thud next to me. "You're streets ahead in Charms. And Transfiguration, come to think of it."

"But I am be'ind in 'Erbology- _and_ I almost fell asleep in 'Istory!"

"Everyone does."

I conceded his point. "So, does everyone just learn from zeir textbooks?"

He laughed. "I wouldn't say _everyone_. Most wouldn't. In fact, I'd say the Ravenclaw tower's the one place you'd fine a History text that'd been opened."

"My brozzers will do it." I guaranteed.

"Really?" He seemed suspicious.

"_Oui_." I smiled. "_Parce-que_, if zey do not, I will tell Cina."

He laughed. "Yeah- she doesn't seem that scary."

I stood and patted his head. "Exactly."

Leaving Max puzzled, I moved over to the bank. I wanted to dangle my feet, but I was in stockings, so instead I dipped my hand below the suspended surface.

"_Merde_!" I squealed.

A bunch of Ravenclaws ran over to me. Charlotte was in the lead. "What's wrong?"

"_C'est putain de froid_!"

Luckily, it appeared Lottie was unaware of that particular colloquialism. "Yeah." She rolled her eyes. "It's cold."

* * *

Dinner. I ate voraciously, until I was full of the rich English food.

"We're allowed out in the halls after dinner, but we have to be back in our common room by eight-thirty. So since it's only half an hour…" Arica was explaining things to me. I was mildly interested.

I was already deciding to spend that half hour with my siblings- or, at the very least, Capucine, since I hadn't talked to her all day.

And so, when the plates were cleared, I promised to meet my friends later and sought out my sister.

She kissed my cheek as a way of greeting. "'Ow was your first day?" She was speaking slower than I did in English.

"It was great- but zey do not teach us enough 'Erbology at Beauxbatons."

"I 'ad zat too. We are be'ind."

We were very soon joined by my brothers, and we chatted for almost twenty minutes about nothing in particular.

"We should 'ead to our common rooms." Didier scowled even as he suggested it.

Cina looked surprised for a moment. "Oh. You 'ave to go now?"

"We are not allowed out after _huit heures et demi_." Adrien explained.

"Well, you are only _petits_!" She teased.

We hit her playfully, and said our goodnights.

Adrien and I were able to walk part of they way together, as both our common rooms were in towers. We split off at adjacent stairways- that were soon becoming parallel.

"Oh, _merde_!" Adrien swore and leaped onto the shifting steps. "_Bonne nuit_, Flo!" He yelled out behind him as he raced towards the stable landing. It was now completely separate from the end of the staircase. He made a running leap for it, caught onto the banister with one hand, and hauled himself over. "_Voila_!" He presented back to me.

"_Tu es zinzin_!" I called back.

My trip upstairs was much less eventful.


	4. The Boggart Business

**Next chapter huzzah!**

**For something different, let's start with the disclaimer. I do not own the concept of Harry Potter. This much is rather obvious. I have put my own spin on it- and am having terrible fun doing so. :)**

**More people being met in this chapter- all have the appropriate-naming-style thing, which is quite enjoyable to get into. :P  
_Please do review_, let me know what you think about the way this is going. The pace will be pickling up soon, when we start getting some interesting things happening at Hogwarts... stay tuned, folks!****  
**

* * *

I was woken in the morning with a pillow to the face.

"Rise and shine, all!" Tammy was calling cheerfully as she flung various bedding at all the girls.

Four of the offensives were thrown back. Charlotte was already up and dressed, so had been safe from the barrage, and I wasn't yet comfortable enough to start hurling things at my new friends.

"If you're not going to have Quidditch Practice this morning, then enjoy the sleep-in." Stephanie- I had spent half of last evening drilling names into my skull- snarled through mumbly lips. She swung her legs over the bed and began pulling at her blonde tresses, gathering them up under a headband.

"Force of habit." Tammy shrugged, before moving to sit on Arica's bed. "Up, lazy."

Arica swiped her palm at the general area, causing a slap to Tammy's shoulder. "Off, meanie."

Diana was buttoning a crested shirt over her white singlet, standing in front of a mirror in her stockings. "Honestly, early risers are just-"

"Says you, already dressed." Stephanie bumped her out of the way.

"There's a difference between being an early riser and a morning person."

"Is zere?" I asked.

Everyone stared at me.

"In truz, I am not sure what eizer is."

Grace buttoned her skirt. "You'll pick it up."

I fiddled with my new Ravenclaw blue crested tie, cursing quietly as I mangled the unfamiliar knot.

Charlotte strode over to me, and with four quick flicks had tied the thing neatly. I stared at it dumbly.

"You'll pick it up." She winked.

Soon enough, we were all ready to troop downstairs, into our common room. There was a steady trickle of people moving out the door, rubbing empty stomachs and yawning the whole way.

We joined the pilgrimage to the Great Hall.

Breakfast passed with no major incident. I wasn't startled by the arrival of the mail, I didn't make strange conversation- I just sat there with a massive bowl of cereal and tried to work out where I'd need to go for Ancient Runes, my first class of the day.

Arica was with me for Runes, luckily, as was Grace. Three Ravenclaw boys were with us, too- Finn, a boy I recognised only as the spark-shooter from yesterday's History lesson (I soon discovered his name was Kirk), and one I hadn't actually met before, a pale, blonde boy who spoke with a mixing accent that confused me no end. As it turned out, this was because he was a curious combination of Polish and Welsh, and was called Iwan.

We walked as a group of six towards the classroom, chatting the entire way- the main topic being the weight of our books. In the end, we all levitated our Rune Dictionaries to class.

I was happy to see Pheonix again, sitting next to a burly Gryffindor. I was not so happy to see the Slytherin girl that had been unkind to Minuetta and her friend in creatures yesterday. She was sitting up the back, surrounded by a gaggle of fellow green-tied students.

Finn- who greeted Pheonix's friend with a jubilant; _Hugo, boy!- _sat next to the Gryffindors, then Grace, then me, and on the other side, Arica, Iwan and Kirk.

"Good morning, Fourth-years!" Our teacher tottered out on ancient legs, but her voice carried crisply across the room. "Ames?" She looked about for me.

I waved.

"Good. I'm Professor Babbling- I assume you've done work on Ancient Runes before?"

I assured her I had.

"Good. Then we can make a start."

I enjoyed myself immensely, "nerding it up", as Hugo put it. I understood all the Runes we had to decipher, working them out flawlessly into my native tongue. It was the subsequent French-English translation that didn't go so well. I kept asking my friends for help, but Arica was really the only one of any use, since she had a few words, though she spoke mostly Portuguese for some reason. Iwan was decidedly unhelpful, spouting bouts of Welsh or Polish, or on occasion, a blend, whenever I queried. He and Kirk began a slightly stilted conversation in Polish, and we all pretty much tuned them out.

"Nerds." Hugo complained.

* * *

I was very excited for my next class. Although of course my Ravenclaw friends were walking to the room with us, I let Pheonix show me the way, as this was a lesson shared with Gryffindors.

Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"So, Adrien's been pretty awesome in all the spell-type classes… that mean you're going to rock at this, too?"

"'Opefully." I grinned. "We did do a lot of spellwork at Beauxbatons, but mostly Charms and Transfiguration."

"Not much Defence?"

"Not as much, but still, a lot. More zan 'Erbology."

She laughed. "Yeah, Adrien was a little crap in Herbology. No offence. I mean, I'd just expect more from farmers." She quipped.

"Not at all. We 'ad only ze food plants."

"Crops." Kirk quickly interjected.

"And _les animeaux_."

"Yeah, you were cool in Creatures."

"_Merci_."

"What was that, though, about _jhill-burr_?"

"Gilbert?" I giggled. "Oh, nozing. Ask Adrien."

"Fine then- I will." With perfect timing, we had arrived at the cavernous room. Pheonix ran straight up to Ado and bombarded him with questions about the farm.

I stood awkwardly, not sure if I should interrupt them. I looked about for my Ravenclaw friends, and seeing Max chatting in a corner to Tammy, made a beeline for them.

A hand caught my arm. "Uh-uh. No interrupting those two when they've finally decided to talk to each-other." Arica admonished.

"Did zey 'ave a fight?"

"No… they're just taking a ridiculously long time to get together."

"Zey don't talk?"

"Oh, Gods above, Flo."

"_Quoi_?" I asked, still completely confused.

Before she could try a different explanation, our Professor yelled for our collective attention.

Pheonix and Ado reappeared beside me. The English girl whispered to us that we should call the Professor 'Mouse'. We both stared at her. Nothing in this woman's appearance spoke of a small rodent. She looked... dangerous.

She was medium height, with broad back and shoulders, feet splayed wide. Her fringe was spiked up at the front, and she had a long white ponytail, almost as lengthy as my own plait, down to her waist. She was twirling a wand made of a black wood between her fingerless-gloved hands.

"Welcome back, Brave and Brainy!" She nodded first to the bunch of red, then blue students. "Thought we might start with a little fun for you all. Relatively speaking. At the very least, we'll start the year with a bang- and a good laugh." She whacked the side of a whitewashed cabinet, which shuddered violently in response.

A few students stepped back. A couple of the Gryffindors stepped forward.

"I trust you all remember _riddikulus_?" She eyed each student carefully, making sure they nodded and beamed. When she got to Adrien, her bright eyes flicked between us. "You newbies know Boggarts?"

We nodded. Though we'd never faced one in a classroom environment, one had once got into Thierry and Noémi's house, a crumbly stone castle in the North, when we visited in the summer holidays. Their father had taken it out, and shown us how to do it if we ever needed.

"Right then. In a line, fourth years, Ravenclaws, spread yourselves out, I don't want a lump of Gryffindors at the front here."

Hugo ended up at the head of the line, I could see from my place about two-thirds of the way back.

"Of course you're first, Channer." The Professor rolled her eyes, before flicking her wand over her shoulder at the cabinet. The doors shattered, revealing a mass of flames, licking at the splinters.

He took one tiny faltering step backwards in a split second of fear, then bounced forward on his toes and yelled "_Riddikulus_!"

The inferno shrunk to a tealight almost instantly, flickering as a marshmallow was browned above it.

"Odd sense of humour, Channer- remember we need that laughter!"

"I could be insulted, you know!" Pheonix called out from in front of me.

A few people cracked up.

"And there we go, McShea to the rescue. Excellent- next!"

Max stepped up, or, rather, was pushed up by two Ravenclaw boys, wand poised in front of him. The boggart shifted swiftly, taking the form of what looked to me like a female version of himself, sleeping. I saw his shoulders stiffen before he recited the incantation.

"_Riddikulus_!"

The skin darkened, the hair shortened, the figure began to stand-

The boy after Max stepped up, causing the creature to morph into a masked figure, wielding something between a scythe and a machete. A couple of people jumped back before the victim forced the weapon to become a balloon animal.

We all enjoyed a brief giggle before the Boggart became a swarm of bees.

The laughter was continued as soon as every insect had their wings tied in pretty bows.

More students faced their fears, and the changes became slower, more sluggish. Clearly, the laughter was winning over the Boggart.

Arica's experience was one of the most epic. The boggart somehow managed to morph into a birds-eye-view landscape, evidently from a hefty height. She swayed, steadied herself, swallowed twice and yelled "Riddikulus!"

A postcard fell to the floor, complete with words 'wish you were here'.

Gryffindors came thick and fast, dealing with their nightmares faster, but often missing the humour element.

Soon enough, Pheonix was instructing miniature workmen to repair a decimated Hogwarts Castle, and it was my turn.

I was expecting to see a Vampire coming at me, and was all ready to turn his fangs into those gummy lolly teeth, but what appeared in front of me was very different.

A train raced straight for me, tooting violently. I saw a truck driving on a direct collision course with the tracks. I stood, immobile, as I watched the two vehicles grow closer together. My knees shook and I began to sweat as I realised what this was, as I realised I couldn't do anything about what was going to happen, what was happening-

Adrien jumped in front of me.

The image wavered, and became two headstones, beneath a tree. Two very familiar figures were shimmering into place, both mangled almost beyond recognition.

"_RIDDIKULUS_!" My brother yelled, and a cubby materialised on the willow branches. A young Capucine yelped as the supporting ropes snapped, sending the entire thing toppling.

The classroom rang with laughter, most of them familiar with my sister's reputation of perfection.

I didn't join them, too busy trying to stay on my feet.

Adrien's arm was there, supporting me. He looked me in the eyes, checking to see how I was, inadvertently letting me see the real fear that he held, too.

Charlotte had noticed, too, and was at my shoulder in seconds, Max not far behind.

"Flo?" She asked anxiously.

"Are you okay?" Max rushed.

I stared at them. "No."

* * *

During Break, Max disappeared. Charlotte and Adrien stayed with me, finding a quiet place on the grounds where we could sit.

My brother rubbed my back until the hyperventilation stopped, but I could tell from his shaking hand that he wasn't recovered yet, either.

Lottie had no clear idea of why we were so disturbed by our experience. She just comforted us as best she could.

Apparently, Max had had a hunch. He returned trailing Didier and Capucine, delivering the best remedy to us. Quietly, he led Charlotte away, leaving us all to ourselves.

My friend had evidently explained what had happened, because Cina swept us into a hug as soon as she was close enough.

"_Je suis __bien_." I insisted. "_Adrien m'a sauvé ._" I smiled at him.

"Oui- I 'eard." Our sister suddenly looked sour. "Zat was really ze funniest zing you could zink of, Ado?"

He grinned, nodding proudly. "Our class laughed so 'ard it finished ze Boggart off."

Didier toppled off his squatted ankles laughing.

"_Tais-toi_." Cina frowned cutely, before going back to a more serious expression. She passed a few sheets of parchment to me. "Ze _fils_ shared a class ziz morning- zey started a letter to Guy. I added my part."

I took it, scanning quickly over the written passages. I immediately identified my triplets' handwriting, almost identical, save for Adrien's being that bit neater, and Cina's careful lettering, embellished with inked frills, more uniform and yet far less legible than either boys'.

I pulled a delicate quill and a bottle of deep blue ink from my satchel and added almost a page of my own messages. I mentioned the Boggart in one sentence, amidst glowing praises of my new friends, so hopefully, Guillame wouldn't worry about us.

Once I'd finished, I fanned the parchment and slid it into the envelope Cina provided.

I then offered to take our letter up to the Owlery to be delivered, since the Ravenclaw tower was near enough- or so I guessed from the directions Arica had given me earlier.

I found my way there relatively easily, and sent Anouk off with a stroke and a tickle before I had to rush off to collect my books for Potions.

I grabbed them just in time for the bell to go, and hurried off to find the classroom.

I got lost.

I was very late.

The Professor was not pleased.

"Go and take your place there, next to Celina."

Despite my valid explanations for my tardiness, I was punished by being assigned the sniping Slytherin girl as a desk partner. I saw Didier's face as I walked back past him, standing next to his friend Richard, and his expression was apologetic. Richard himself was making a face. That didn't bode well for me.

"_Bonjour_, Celina." I smiled, making the best of it.

"Maybe, if you've just come from Beauxbatons, then you should not talk and try to understand what people're saying in English. Then maybe you'd stop with the French speak, confusing every person who's bothered to learn this language properly."

My mouth flopped open.

I shut it in disgust.

The bench next to me was occupied with two Ravenclaw boys, both of whom I'd played catch with, and learned that their greatest fears were balaclava-clad men armed with big knives, and bees, respectively. I didn't know their names yet, though.

The bee one leaned over. "I'm Nathan, this is Daniel."

"Nate and Dan- we'll be your saviors from evil Slytherins today." Daniel quipped.

"_Merci_." I muttered back to them.

Our Potions Master was up the front, demonstrating exactly how to prepare a certain ingredient for whatever concoction she had instructed us to brew up today. Having missed the first portion of this explanation, I turned to my partner for help- and kept on turning.

"Growth tonic." Nate answered my query.

"Don't spill any on you." Dan mimed giant fingers by waggling his hands in front of his face.

"Maybe spill some on Celina." I tried desperately not to laugh at Nate's rather cruel but merited suggestion.

Celina overheard us, and scowled. "Excuse me, Ravenclaw, but are you going to work or flirt today?"

"Flirt?"

"I thought as much."

"No." I shook my head "I mean- flirt- what does zat mean?"

Celina was delighted to explain- too delighted. "It mean you, and those two silly little boys are behaving in a way unsuitable for this environment. Perhaps you should get a private room. I don't know, maybe you conduct classes in this manner in France, but in England, we are more civilised."

"Well, all the better we're in Scotland, then." Nate smiled serenely.

"You-"

"Everything going fine down this end? Ames?" The Professor peered into my empty cauldron. "Not sure how to do this, or not sure what we're doing?"

"I was late, _desole_."

She nodded and re-pinned one dark curl back close to her high forehead. "The dungeons are easy enough to lose. Next time, get a map, or a friend. Got friends yet?"

"_Oui, Prof_."

"Good. Use them to get to your classes on time."

"Zis is ze first class I 'ave been late to, _Prof_." I thought that would help.

It did not. "Then I feel honoured to be the unlucky one who has to show you how to do your work separately." She admonished with heavy sarcasm.

I cringed. I swear, Celina started humming to herself.

"Right, now, what we've got to do here is- good gracious, girl, how neatly do you want them chopped?" She stared at my neat rows of ingredients.

Celina smirked at me over the Professor's shoulder.

"I like to be neat. I am sorry- is zat a problem?"

"No, no, on the contrary, it's rather a fine trait for this class. Feel free to be as competent as your brother over there."

I looked- Didier was stirring his cauldron with one lazy hand, other fingers scraping for elements, each one correctly portioned, adding a pleasant puff of differently tinged smoke each time something went in. He'd always been good at Potion-making, the best of the Ames children. Then again, Guy had been rubbish at it, and all the beauty potions Cina had made as a young girl had proven even more effective than tweezers and wax strips for removing eyebrows.

"I will try, _Prof_."

"Make sure you do. If you're going to be late to my class, you'd better make up for it with a perfect tonic by the end of the hour."

I made up my mind to borrow Didier's before she inspected it.

* * *

Lunch provided entertainment that made me reminisce for the old days of hexed carrots. At the Slytherin table, it quickly became clear that Dids had snuck out some of his growth tonic.

"Whoa!"

"What the…?"

"Look at the size of that-"

"It's the breadstick that'll eat _you_!"

Over it all, I could hear my brother's telltale pranking chuckle.

Max squeezed in between Charlotte and me. "Are you aware there's a massive loaf of bread swallowing the pumpkin soup at the Slytherin table?"

"We'd noticed." Lottie replied dryly.

"Meet Didier." I added, giving a little smiling shrug.

Max eyed the chaos at the silver and green bench. "That's your brother's work?"

"_Oui_."

"I think I like him."

"I shall tell 'im for you."

"Ooh, I'd be ever so grateful."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Come on and eat your lunch before that giant bread crushes us all."

Max raised his eyes to the façade of the heavens. "What a way to go…"

* * *

Having escaped a _pain_ful fate (I'm sorry- I couldn't resist the pun), we retired to the now familiar lakeside bank.

The boys were sitting about, discussing today's classes. Soon enough, talk turned to the Boggart.

Nate and Dan were quick to pounce on Max. "What was your fear, anyway? You as a girl?"

"Hey, it's a scary thought." Max grinned. "Who'd want to be one of those… _things_?"

"Watch it, you." Tammy called out towards them.

"Anyway-" Max completely ignored her- "what about you- _bees_?"

"I'm allergic! One sting would close my throat up."

"So? That's what we've got a hospital wing for."

"Dan, I'd be dead."

"I repeat- _so_?"

Others were ridiculed for their deepest terrors- I prepared myself for the question.

"So, Flo- why you so freaked out by trains?"

"How'd you even get to School this year?"

Nate and Dan really had the tag-team sentences down-pat.

Speaking of down-pat, I was completely composed as I explained. "Well, ze reason I am at zis school zis year is because my parents died last year. It was in a train crash."

Everyone went very quiet.

Then they apologised one by one for bringing it up.

"I am fine." I pacified them. "Really, you do not need to be sorry. I 'ave dealt wiz it."

Tactfully, the topic was changed. The new conversation was centred on other people in our year- if they were attractive, if they were nice, if they were smart, talented, a little mad or Polish.

I joined in, adding to the confusion over Iwan's name- if it was the Welsh form of John, or the Polish form of Ivan, which meant John anyway; the mass slam of Celina, how simultaneously evil and pretentious she was; and affirming that although Bertha (no, I had no idea who she was) wasn't the smartest girl in the world, she was very kind and anyway, Finn explained that Adam insisted she was Fiona's best friend, so that was okay. Apart from Finn himself, I had no idea who any of those people were, either.

But at lest I joined in. And that, or so Lottie assured me, was what counted.

* * *

Charms, then Transfiguration. Both were run the way they had been yesterday.

I did well in both, considering in Charms we were 'learning' _Depulso_ today, and I was revising, and in Transfiguration I was only too happy to make my provided Children's picture-book into a teddybear.

I maintained that my bear was cuter than Adrien's.

He maintained that mine didn't have fangs that were as sharp.

I maintained- and still do maintain- that teddybears should not have fangs.

* * *

At Dinner, I somehow ended up in between Tammy and Max- which was apparently a bad thing. Personally, I found it enjoyable.

Stuck beside two massive gluttons, I felt very healthy with my comparative nibbling. We chatted rudely through full mouths, not really caring about the uncouthness of it all.

"So, Flo, you've just _got_ to try out for the team this week end."

Tammy and I had resorted to the usual thing people do when they have something in common- talk exclusively about it. Therfore, Quidditch was our topic _de jour_.

"You 'ave not seen me fly yet." I pointed out.

"Hey, I said you should- sorry-" ahe swallowed a mouthful "-try out, didn't say you'd get in. Though, if you've been playing on your old school team…"

"Our 'ouse team was one of ze best."

"One of the? How many houses are there at Beauxbatons?" Max got involved in the conversation.

My eyes darted around shiftily. "_Cinq_. Five."

"What were they?"

"Er…" I trailed off. This was awkward.

"Oh, right. Got to be secretive." Max crossed a finger over his heart mockingly. "Not fair, you knowing about both schools."

"I know 'ardly anyzing about zis school." I pointed out.

"Still." Tammy insisted.

I sighed. "My 'ouse was _violet_. Purple 'ouse."

"And its name…?"

"_No_."

"Please?"

I shook my head.

"Oh, come on!"

"Learn French. When you can pronounce it, I will tell to you ze name."

I was glad not to hear Max's dark mutterings. Something told me he was using words I'd never have learned from my older brother.

* * *

I sat on my bed that evening, holding my multi-photo frame.

The other girls were awash with gossip, someone evidently having let slip that Finn might _like_ Grace during an elective today, but since I was unaware of the connotations of the word _like_, I retreated to my bed.

Charlotte sat cross-legged by my pillow. "You okay?"

I looked up. "_Oui_."

She glanced at my photos. "Sure?"

"_Certainment_. I was just looking at ze _visages_ of my family."

"That's your brother?" She pointed to Guy, two Christmases ago, looking ridiculous in a Santa hat and fake beard.

"He is usually more normal."

"Puh-leeze. You've met Chris."

"_Bon point_."

We had a quiet giggle together, drowned out by the tittering of the other girls, still rife with Finn-centric controversy.

At some point, we all made an unspoken decision to retreat to our own mattresses in our pyjamas, and chat about nothing in particular until one by one, we dropped off to sleep.


	5. Old and New

**Salut!**

**This is going to be one of the last day-to-a-chapter chapters for a while, I think... maybe we'll get through the week, depends how we go. :D  
I may be playing about with POVs in the near future, too- that, and adding in some more delightful flashbacks. Again, we'll go with it.**

**Obligatory disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter or any of its affiliates. I've created a good many characters within; all references to JK's creations are both humble and fun for me. :P**

* * *

I had my first proper experience with the post.

At first, when the letter dropped- into my scrambled eggs, mind- I was surprised that Guy had replied so quickly. Then I had realised his reply was too quick to be plausible. Then I realised the envelope was a veritable wad, and covered in about six different hands of writing.

My friends had written!

I pulled open the wax seal, extracting the sheaf of parchment from within. Quickly, I noticed there were four sets of folded pages- each one labelled with a name; Cina, Ado, Dids, Flo. I put my siblings' back and laid them aside, folding out my messages with gleeful anticipation.

_Chere, Flo cherie!  
__How's Hogwarts? Cold? It's beautiful here- Thierry's been moaning he can't go flying with you. The team's already missing the triplets, apparently. Not that we've played any games yet. The boy's overreacting, as usual.  
__Speaking of overreactions, Isaac says hi.  
__We're all missing you- Noémi, Zach, Thierry, Isaac… and me. I miss you a lot, in all truth, Flo. You had better write back quickly, and send Luc with all speed.  
__I hope you're finding new friends and such- and I hope they're good, but not good enough to replace us. __We will find them. And we have wands.  
__I expect to hear all about them, and your teachers, and classes, and anything you're allowed to let slip about Hogwarts itself. Although Zacharie, Thierry and Noémi will be seeing it soon enough- very jealous, you know.  
__Not much in the way of news to report as yet- all assembled are still single, we're getting back into studies, no catastrophes as yet, we're all doing the subjects we wanted to. One gossip point- Prof Gaspardient's getting married. We all think it's rather strange, as he's such an ugly little old man, but as we know, it's the personality that wins them. Zach disagrees… but what would he know? Anyway, Prof G seems happy and we're happy for him. No idea who the lady is, but I'm sure she's nice. And short. And possibly ugly. Most probably old.  
__Enjoy yourself in England, Florence Ames, and if you're writing to Guillame anytime soon, send him our love, too.  
__We all send our love, Flo dearest, to be specific (and I apologise for all our handwriting- we're not over holidays just yet!);  
__Embrassser, Flo! Isaac x  
__Je t'aime bien, cherie, x Noémi x  
__Souhaite tu a voici, x Thierry  
__Bises pour ma cherie, Florence! xx Zacharie  
__Et, pour moi, c'est embrasser, bises et tout.  
__Amour, Flo cherie,  
__Ta meilluer amie,  
Zoé xxx_

"Who wrote the essay?" Max leaned over my shoulder.

"My friends." I showed him. "Zey wrote to us."

"I can see that. Do you have more hours in a day in France? How did they get time to write all of this?" he fanned the full envelope in front of me.

"Maybe zey are just very good friends." I stared at him with a hint in both my voice and eyes.

He got it. "Ouch. Touche."

"_Merci_."

He munched the rest of his breakfast thoughtfully, occasionally peering over my shoulder to read my letter. Since the whole lot was in French, there wasn't much point.

I tucked the letter inside my book-satchel, resolving to pass the other sheafs on to my siblings as I saw them today. The first would of course be Didier, as double potions was first.

"On time today? Congratulations." The Professor chastised mildly as I shuffled in with the rest of the class.

I took a place at a bench anxiously, hoping Celina would not be forced on me again. To my immense luck, it turned out we would not be working in partners today, and I found myself surrounded with Ravenclaws on one side, Didier on the other.

"I'll be honest with you- yesterday's results were astoundingly low. Frankly, I had expected better from my fourth-years, but there you go. I promise to give you all a break, if the start of the school year's proving a tad trialling- so today, we'll be brewing a Wit-Sharpening Potion."

Several people groaned.

"But Professor- that's in about the eighth chapter!" A boy next to Finn complained.

"Good to see you're reading the textbook, Dilys, but that doesn't mean you teach the class. My job, remember?"

"Yeah, and it's our job to make the damn things-" Richard started.

"You think I've never made a Wit-Sharpening Potion before, Bosworth?"

"De Morgan, you can't be serious." He protested. "We're in holiday mode."

"Exactly. If you brew your potions correctly, you'll have the wit enough to write the essay I'm going to set at the end of class."

Anyone who hadn't groaned before, did so now.

"Right. Open your books, yes, _all the way _to chapter eight- and begin. Remember not to add the ground scarabs _until your bile and ginger is blue_. You do, you have very little nose left- got it?"

"Zis is explosive?" Didier asked with the faintest hint of excitement in his voice.

"No- I'll knock it off if you get that wrong. Feel free to let it go dark green when you remix the armadillo bile- it should be yellow, but it's an easy mistake to make. I'll just point out to the whole class you've made it, take a few choice points from your House, and set you all an extra essay, on the colour difference between green and yellow. Clear, fourth-years?"

We scuttled away to grab ingredients, desperately hoping no cauldron would show even the faintest tinge of green.

* * *

I stayed back a little after potions with Didier, mainly to beg for some lenience on our essays. Didier asked if we couldn't just write the whole lot in French.

We could not.

Gloomy and intimidated by the prospect of two-and-a-half feet worth of English spelling and grammar by next Tuesday, we trudged to the Great Hall to meet our respective friends. Along the way, I passed him the letter I had been too scared by Professor de Morgan to give to him during class.

He read it about three times, then tucked it inside his jumper before Richard leapt on us to take Dids away to their next class.

I, on the other hand, found Arica, who helped me re-find the Runes room.

I spent the entirety of the next hour having a ball helping and being helped by my friends in what was turning out to be one of the communal, chatty classes.

At one stage, we were convinced a certain passage was talking about Pheonix- or at least, Hugo was convinced- until we realised the inked bird was in fact a fwooper, and it was talking about four brave muggles, not Pheonix the muggle-born Gryffindor.

"Why the hell does _fwooper_ mean four? The unicorn meaning 'one' I can understand. The quintaped for 'five', I get. Acromntuala, yeah, that's 'eight', but why the hell is a fwooper 'four'? "

We stared at her until I quietly explained a fwooper came in four colours.

"Someone's bitter about not being in the _Syllabary_ after all." Hugo patted her shoulder.

Pheonix swiped at him. "Get off."

We laughed at them both, and pretty much didn't stop laughing until the bell went for lunch.

* * *

Lunch passed, interrupted only by a terrific thunderclap that announced an imminent storm.

"I doubt we'll be able to hear classes over this." Lottie commented, glancing upwards at the broiling ceiling.

I checked my timetable quickly. "We 'ave 'Istory next."

"What a shame..." Max grinned.

I agreed guiltily.

* * *

As it turned out, Charlotte had been correct. It was almost impossible to make out Prof Binns' monotonal drone over the thundering rain.

It was also almost impossible to concentrate on my reading (I'd given up listening again) whilst there was one very annoying leak in the ceiling of our classroom.

_Plop._

Right on the corner of my desk.

"In _Mille six cent sioxante-dix huit_,Areza ze Enchantress-"

_Plop._

The exact same place.

"-allied 'erself wiz-"

_Plop.  
_A small puddle was beginning to form.

"-ze English muggle King-"

_Plop._

This time, the splash hit my page ever-so-slightly.

"Charles _deuxieme_, fooling 'im into believing 'erself to be a-"

_Plop._

I slammed down my heavy textbook, causing the rest of the class to jump.

The hand-holding couple were so surprised they let go of each other- just for a second.

Charlotte stared at me. I made a gesture of apology back.

Once everyone had returned to their Professor-induced stupor, I set to work aiming my wand at the ceiling.

"_Reparo_." I muttered. The spiderweb cracks began to seal themselves.

Satisfied, I went back to my reading.

"-common muggle, 'oom 'e took on as a new mistress-"

A shower of sparks scuttled across my page.

I looked up- Kirk was grinning between me and the ceiling.

I stuck my tongue out at him, most maturely, and went back to my studies.

* * *

I was utterly confused by the next portion of my timetable.

"Astronomy? 'Ow can we see ze stars now?"

"We can't. We get free time now, but tonight we have to be in the Astronomy tower by midnight for the lesson." Max explained.

"Oh. So- we do not 'ave classes now?"

"Nope."

"Cool." I sat happily in the Ravenclaw common room, staring out the window every now and then to distract myself from the Potions essays I really should have been writing.

The rain was still hammering against the glass.

"_Depulso_!" Someone was yelling, across the room, evidently trying to practice their Charms.

I ducked, almost hitting my nose on the table as something that sounded heavy rushed over my head.

There was a violent tinkling, and suddenly the window was gone.

I squealed, covering my half-finished and much-laboured essay as best I could from the onslaught of cold water.

"_Glacius_!" I yelped, successfully turning the surrounding rain into shards of ice, which dropped neatly to the floor. The window was covered in a thin sheet of black ice, only just holding back more rain.

A few other fourth-years started yelling, mainly directed at the Dilys boy, evidently _Peter_ Dilys, who had been the one to cast the ill-aimed Banishing Charm. A few, though, were directed at me, for having both comprehensively showered them in ice-shards and shown off a spell they hadn't learned yet.

Charlotte flipped open her Charms book and showed me the page that dictated the Freezing Charm- from the looks of its placing, we were due to learn it on Friday. I therefore got to show off for a minute, casting the spell a few more times to create a proper ice barrier between us and the outside elements.

My cohort was suitably impressed. Nate and Dan spent a while rapping on the improvised pane, before sitting down next to me and asking if I was so good at that, how come it had taken me fifty minutes to write two and a half paragraphs of a Potions essay.

I told them, in not altogether polite, but certainly altogether French terms to go away unless they wanted to help me.

"Think, roughly translated, that means sod off, guys." Charlotte thumped her books next to mine and read over my shoulder.

"'Ow am I going?" I asked her.

"Looks fine. Except in English, we tend not to put circonflexes on our 'c's..."

I groaned and took my wand back out, searching for the incantation to the ink-scouring spell.

* * *

I gave up on my essay for the day, telling myself I'd pick it up again tomorrow.

I pulled out my other homework- the Creatures notes I'd done, I was already ahead in Charms and Transfiguration, Herbology I'd been pouring over in every available moment to me- I was sick of it for the time being. Amazingly, we'd completed all our Runes work in class. That just left Defence Against the Dark Arts. We had been set some reading on hexes, which I took to eagerly, hoping this meant an end to the boggart episode.

"You know that's not due for ages?" Finn slumped next to me, at a loose end now Peter had accidentally flung his Rune Dictionary out the window.

"But… we 'ave Defence again zis Friday." I showed him my timetable, puzzled.

"Yeah, Mouse always gives us reading to do when she wants to let us off heavy homework- makes the other teachers think she's working us hard enough." He grinned. "Then, a few weeks in, she _will_ start setting us homework…"

I was already standing before his grimace had formed on his face.

"So- we are not finished wiz ze dark beasts?"

"Hope not." Finn slouched back in his chair. "Love learning the counter-spells to ward those bad mother-"

"_Excuse-moi_." I hurried away, and was out the door before anyone asked me where I was going.

The high-ceilinged corridors gave no clues to aid my navigation, so I just set off in a general downwards direction. I skidded on trick carpets that folded maliciously under me, tried to force two separate bits of walls that resembled doors and put my foot through a false step before finally stopping, conceding that I was lost.

I looked around for someone- anyone- to help me. There was a whisk of black hair, disappearing around a corner.

I followed it.

The corridor was empty.

"Allo?"

Nothing. Empty suits of armour stayed in their places, crushing my hope of asking any animated ones the way.

"_Allo_?"

I felt a breeze. A very cold breeze.

Something grabbed my face forcibly, and I screamed out.

"GOT YOUR CONK!"

I clutched at my heart, staggering backwards. A small man had materialised in front of me. He was dressed alarmingly- the worst offense being a bright orange bow-tie with abhorrent puce spots. He also wore a wide, slightly malevolent grin.

I screamed again.

"Got your conk, got your conk, Peevsie's got your- hold it- who're you, then? Not an ickle firstie... who're you?"

I almost whimpered. "Florence Ames."

"That's a stupid voice you've got there, _Flo-ronce Aaaames._" He mocked my accent.

"No stupider than yours, you jumped up pile of lurid ectoplasm."

I spun around to meet the voice. _Mouse!_ I sighed with relief.

"What big words for such an ickle weeny mousie, ey?"

"Go _away_, Peeves."

"Shan't."

"Don't make me get the Baron. He doesn't like me- you know... he won't be happy you forced me to talk to him."

"Your problem, Mousie- not mine." He cackled evilly.

"It is if he decides to take it out on you, _Peevie_."

Peeves spat some words I didn't quite recognise, and spun away, clanging the visors on the armour as he went.

Mouse turned to me, idly flicking her slick ponytail off one shoulder. "Watch that thing, newbie. Peeves gave me hell when I was your age." She winked. "As you can see, now I'm a professor, he gives me the utmost respect..."

I hadn't really understood most of what she'd said, but I was glad to see her anyway.

"Prof..." I began.

She waved a hand as if to bat away my address. "Mouse." She corrected.

"Mouse." I amended. "I was wondering if... if I could speak wiz you?"

She looked at me carefully. "Sure." Nodding, she gestured to a door three meters down the next corridor. "Step into my office."

I followed her cautiously, not entirely certain of what to expect.

Her desk, a sprawling slab of ebony that dominated the room, had great chunks hewn out of it, leaving splinters dangerously askew. It was littered with stacks of parchment, weighed down by framed images- only about two-thirds of them moving. The static ones, I assumed, all depicted muggles. Quills were stabbed into the wood or the wax of a foot-high candlestick melted onto one side. As for the rest of the room; there was one large, clear space, but everywhere else odd objects were strewn across the floor in semi-ordered piles, and the walls were adorned with paintings of either famous sorcerers duelling or magical beasts snarling, spitting or skipping from frame to frame. As I watched, she prodded one picture, where a manticore had initiated a melee with a chimera, with her wand, drawing the figures' attention.

"Stop it, you two." She growled at them before turning to me. "Don't know why I bother. Tried hanging them on opposite walls- they just attacked poor Remus- and he can't really hold his own, unless it's full moon..." She trailed off and gestured towards a portrait of a scarred, greying man. "My hero. Anyway. Newbie- you wanted a chat."

"Err..." I paused for thought. "_Oui_. Yes."

Mouse strode around to the only chair in the room- a faded red velvet affair. "Sit down." With a wave of her hand, a stool reattached a leg and scooted under me.

"_Merci_."

"Now- is this about the boggart, or the homework?"

"Ze boggart. Sort of."

She raised her eyebrows, inviting me to elaborate.

"I was wondering... I mean, Finn was saying zat-"

"O'Kelly? God, newbie, don't listen to a word that boy tells you about me." She winked. "Friends with his mother at School."

I shifted uncomfortably.

"Newbie-" she leaned across the battered desk. "Relax. What's the issue?"

"I- I was wondering if... if we 'ave finished wiz ze boggarts."

She leaned back on her chair. "Ah. Boggarts." She sucked her mouth for a moment. "You didn't do so well against it, did you?"

"No."

"You were scared?"

"_Oui_."

"Well, that's the point of them. That's why we're learning to defend against them."

My shoulders sagged. "I- I just do not want to- to see... what I saw... again."

Her voice softened. "You weren't prepared. Your brother stepped in, right?"

I nodded.

"It didn't turn into what you expected."

I nodded again. "I 'ad expected _un Vampire_."

She frowned. "And, from memory... you got a truck?"

"A truck 'itting a train."

She drew in a breath. "Ah. Your parents."

I was surprised, before realising of course all the staff knew about our situation.

"_Oui_, Pro- Mouse."

"Well, look, Florence-" Again I was surprised, this time because she had used my name. "I know it's nasty, but that's what this subject's for. The Dark Arts _are_ nasty. In all honesty, yes, we've finished with the boggart, because you all dealt with it, and I haven't got another, so this Friday we won't have a practical lesson. Deliveries over the weekend, you know." Her eyes widened spookily.

"And zen... next Tuesday...?"

"No boggarts, you can relax- but certainly some other nasty things. And I'm afraid, really, in my class it's either like it or lump it- we learn the defence for a reason. Also, you never know if one mightn't turn up in your exams- so you'll need to work on it, alright?"

I didn't know what _lumping it_ involved, but I nodded anyway.

"Good. Glad we talked. You're always welcome to come again, especially if you need some extra help... newbie." She grinned.

I found myself smiling as I stood up, making for the door.

"Oh, and newbie-"

Hand on the doorknob to close it, I paused.

"Watch out for Peeves on your way back."

* * *

"Why did no one tell me zere was _un Nain Rouge_ 'ere?" I ran into Charlotte and Max, who had been apparently looking for me after I disappeared, and immediately stared berating them.

"Because we didn't know." Max scrunched up his face. "What's one of them, then?"

"Red something..." Charlotte mused. "_Nain... nain..._ not... gnome? Really?"

"Well, there's bound to be gnomes somewhere- don't tell Hagrid if you've seen any of them on the grounds- it'll probably make him cry."

Charlotte hit him.

"Ouch- hey, so I assume you're not talking about actual gnomes, Flo?"

"_Nain rouge_. A small boy, ze trickster..." I searched for more suitable words to describe the horrid _thing_. "_On s'appelle _Peeves."

"Peeves?"

"Peeves?"

They both said at once.

Max laughed. "Oh- you didn't know about Peeves..."

Charlotte was trying hard not to giggle, too. "He's a poltergeist."

"He's a prat."

"That too."

I stood there, listening.

"What'd he do to you?" Max asked concernedly, looking as if he might be checking for bruises.

"'E... err... 'e... _got my nose_."

My friends went very quiet for a moment.

Then they both started to laugh. Very loudly.

I marched away in mock-offense, swinging my arms in an ungainly manner and _hmph_-ing appropriately... only to sink my foot once again into that pointlessly evil trick stair.

* * *

My foot was still aching from being stuck twice, making the climb to the Astronomy Tower somewhat uncomfortable. Charlotte and Max slowed down to stay with me, so I didn't lose my way. I was constantly on the lookout for Peeves, vigilant as I would be on the pitch with a bludger on my tail.

Despite my misgivings, we made it up without any encounters. My friends led me to the uppermost level in the Tower, to what I realised was the highest point in the entire castle.

I gazed out one of the cavernous windows, taking in the murky view. The lake looked like a great dormant Lethifold, draped between the rugged mountains illuminated by the full moon.

"'Ogwarts is beautiful." I breathed.

"Sure is." Max said cheerfully. "When Peeves isn't around."

"_Baise_ Peeves." I muttered.

He laughed, even if he clearly didn't understand what I'd actually said, he certainly got the gist.

"Fourth years? If we could set up, please- the stars will go supernova eventually."

We pulled out our telescopes and began erecting them by the windows at the command of our Professor- a tall, willowy woman, with sleek black hair entwined with strands of what looked like precious metal threads- most prominently silver, but a lot of bronze, too, and some gold.

She moved over to me. "Florence Ames?"

"_Oui_. Yes."

"I'm Professor Absolom. And, since you've been sorted into Ravenclaw, your head of House."

"_Bonjour_."

"_Enchantee, m'etudiante_." She smiled the tiniest amount before striding away to the middle of the room.

"Absolom speaks about nine languages." Charlotte whispered in my ear.

"She can switch between Russian and Arabic like Hugh Hefner with two-"

"I don't know who Hugh Hefner is, but I want you to stop talking about him before the end of this sentence, okay?" Lottie made a face.

Max grinned. "See? The muggle word can be fun."

"That's exactly the sort of _fun_ I'd expect from muggles." A sneering voice came surprisingly from next to me. Celina was looking archly at us, having just arrived with a small group of Slytherins.

"Sod off, Mussvolen." Max growled.

Whether by design or chance, that was the moment that Didier spotted us and rushed up, Richard in tow.

"_Salut_! Celina, would you mind- could I be... _a cote de_ _ma soeur_?"

She sneered. "I don't know what you're saying."

"My brozzer would like to be next to me." I regarded her poisonously. "'E would like you to move. As would I."

"My pleasure." She spun away and was instantly engulfed by a gaggle of friends. They most probably delved directly into complaining about muggles and the French.

"Slytherins, hurry up- you're a little late, we'll need to set up quickly!" Prof Absolom narrowed her eyes in our direction, and I got the distinct impression she'd witnessed that entire episode.

We quickly helped Didier and Richard with their telescopes- my brother was shocking at anything vaguely mechanical, such as extending tripod legs.

"Hufflepuffs! In, set up _quickly_. I know it's the first week, back, but _honestly_!"

A bunch of yellow-draped students hurried in with bowed heads, fumbling over their telescopes in their rush to placate our Professor.

I smiled at Minuetta before she moved as far away from all Slytherins as possible. I frowned. There was now a conspicuous gap on the other side of Max, Charlotte and I. Even our fellow Ravenclaws had avoided the green group on our left as much as they could. What was this?

"Oh, for goodness _sake_!" Prof Absolom rammed her hands on to her hips and glowered at the door, which had creaked open with a dribble of Gryffindors, finally making it here. "The point of Astronomy is we do it before the sun's up."

"Sorry, Professor." Pheonix gasped breathlessly, one of the first to clamber into the room.

"I daresay you are. How did every single one of you contrive to be late?" She demanded. "My Ravenclaws managed to make it here on time."

"Yeah, but their common room's the closest." Hugo grumbled.

"And the Slytherins were here minutes ago." She zeroed in on the boy. "Note- they're all set up. I suggest you do the same- with haste, Gryffindors, or there'll be points to be had off."

Adrien led Pheonix and the shamed Hugo over to us, finally filling the niche on our right side.

"She's touchy tonight." The broad boy grumbled.

"Shut up and set up, Hugo." Pheonix admonished. "If you will argue with her..."

"We got here with the Hufflepuffs!"

"And they're down by the kitchens, Channer." Max pointed out. "Good argument."

"_Salut_, Adrien!" I half-shouted over the top of the bickering.

He grinned back at me, and was about to reply, when-

"Since we're finally ready." Professor Absolom's voice suddenly lost its hardness, and she regarded us all with empathy. "You're fine, it's the first week back. Mind you, anyone this late next week, _points_. But now- first to find Sirus gets five. Best and most accurate mapping of its trajectory at the end of class, fifteen."

We scrambled for star charts, whirling telescopes this way and that.

In less than twenty seconds, Arica yelled out. "Absolom! Bingo!"

"Five points to Ravenclaw. Now, everybody, get mapping. Sirius, otherwise known as the Dog Star, is the brightest in the night sky..."

* * *

We were all congratulating Arica on securing a further fifteen points for Ravenclaw on the way back to our common room. All except Finn, who was desperately angling for a look at her perfect chart.

"Come on, Arica- I'm rubbish at Astronomy..."

"You're not. You've just got to do your own star charts and you'd be fine at it."

"Please?"

"Gracie might help. I won't."

He started coughing awkwardly whilst they guys laughed.

We parted ways, the girls moving towards our dormitory. It was almost half past one. I changed out of uniform with a groan, fell onto my pillow, and fell asleep without even getting under the covers.


	6. Nonsense

**Woot! Chapter written in record time... ahh, holidays...**

**Now- I feel I should clarify some stuff. **  
**Firstly, I mistakenly wote that the Transfiguration teacher was named Professor Jones in an earlier chapter. His name is actually Burns... I got confused when I was writing it out. Jones is Tamara's last name...**  
**Secondly; I recognise that Pheonix McShea has a 'misspelled' name- the actual creature is, of course, Phoenix. However this is done on purpose- her name is pronounced with a little stress on the individual vowels (fee-oh-nix), and hey, her parents are the new-age sort that give children 'unique' names with 'unconventional spellings' to make them even more 'unique'.  
Thirdly... I do not own Harry Potter and the universe associated. Most of the characters here are my own, but all canon ones are the exclusive property of JK Rowling, the lovely woman.  
Lastly- guess what? I like reviews. Please write them :)**

* * *

Despite my late night, I woke early.

I tossed and turned, but couldn't get back to sleep. Resigning myself to the awakened state, I got dressed and started working again on my Potions essay.

Without realising, I spent almost an hour on a single paragraph.

"Flo? What're you doing?" Diana mumbled, rubbing her porcelain cheeks to get some colour into them.

"Sh-ssshuddap, Di..." Stephanie mumbled, rolling over in her bed. "Gobacktossleep..."

Diana shrugged, planted her dainty feet on the ground and began rounds of the room, waking everyone with light taps to the shoulders.

Steph waved an arm wildly, aiming for her face, before rolling over again- she ran out of bed. Off she toppled, covers and all, to land with a substantial thud on the floor.

"Dammit Turtle!" She groaned.

By this time, Charlotte was ready enough to tie my tie again, and head down into the common room, where we greeted a bleary-eyed Max.

He yawned widely. "Don't you hate the day after Astronomy?"

Lottie grinned. "I'd say, from the look of those bags, Astronomy's not the problem." She measured the dark circles under his eyes with pinched fingers. "_That _much- Astronomy. But _that_- they're staying up late gossiping eyes."

He shoved her away. "Get out of it. Men don't gossip."

I stood there and pretended to know what _gossip_ meant.

"Fine. Plot. Calculate. Plan and distribute tales of social deviancies."

"Early morning, small words, please, Charlotte."

"Tell me what you boys were chatting about to- ooh, I'd say... three am?" She scrutinised his eyes again. "Around that- and I'll start using words of a more palatable portion."  
He groaned.

At a nod from Lottie, we took an arm each and marched him out of the common room, headed for the Hall.

"Tell."

"_Dire_."

"Early morning, no French, please Florence."

"Zen tell."

We all stopped at a landing. "Whatever. You'll all find out soon enough, anyway. Finn's going to ask Grace Parrish out."

Charlotte clapped her hands in delight. "See? Classic gossip. Now, shoo- to breakfast."

Max pulled a rude face at us and led the way to food, glorious food.

* * *

During Runes, I clumped as close to my Gryffindor friends as I could- Arica, Kirk and Iwan seemed to have heard the 'gossip', too, and followed suit, leaving Grace and Finn sitting up the back, hopefully fulfilling our expectations.

"What I wouldn't give to have known that before-" Hugo muttered after we had filled him and Pheonix in. "I'd have brought my extendable ears."

"You still have them?" Pheonix asked incredulously.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I thought Mouse took them off you!"

He winked. "She did, but she couldn't resist my charm- gave them back."

We all hit him playfully. He looked the picture of innocence.

* * *

History was far less interesting. Everyone- the Hufflepuffs seemed to know, now, too- avoided the hopeful new couple, leaving just the pre-determined pair of Adam and Fiona nearby.

Binns noticed nothing.

I read my textbook, took notes, and sneakily finished off my Potions essay just before the bell went.

* * *

Finn and Grace were conspicuously absent from our regular lakeside haunt. Despite his skills not being exemplary, his absence was noted in that no one played catch. Instead, we found our own things to do.

Max skimmed stones over the lake, occasionally bewitching the pebbles to go further.

Iwan and Arica got into a heated argument about how the stars affected or foretold aspects of our daily lives- Arica clearly took Divination, Iwan didn't. "So help me, Iwan-" I noticed no one called Iwan by his last name- I'd seen it written down somewhere, it was about twenty letters long, hyphenated, and unpronounceable- "Next time I see him, I'll get Firenze to give you a good kicking..." But the boy was only laughing at Arica's threats.

Peter, Daniel and Nathan, meanwhile, had stolen Steph and Di's books. It seemed they were having to levitate them out of Diana's substantial reach, since she was several inches taller even than Peter, the second-tallest Ravenclaw boy, after Kirk.

Tammy and Lottie were skulking around, looking for fellow Quidditch team members to discuss game plans with. I heard Tammy shout something out before they both broke into a run and got involved in a conversation with a bunch of older Ravenclaws.

That just left me sitting idly, and Kirk _standing_ idly.

After an awkward pause, he came to sit next to me, brushing off any lingering idleness. "Cold, innit?"

I stared at him. "_Oui_."

"Gets this cold in France?"

"In some places- not at Beauxbatons."

"Where is Beauxbatons, anyway?"

I made a show of zipping my lips.

He smiled even as he stared at me, presumably to make me confess. "That's what I like about you, Florence- you're good for conversation."

I giggled. "Secrets are secrets, Kirk."

"And the French are French."

"_Precisement._" I smiled.

"That's not a good thing. Even our muggles can beat yours at Wars."

"Oh, _Pardon_- 'oo still 'as a King?"

He paused, mouth open. "Aw, sod it."

I bowed my head. "_Merci_."

From within the depths of the castle, the bell rang.

Kirk stood and offered me a hand up. I took it, brushing off my skirt as I stood. "_Merci encore_."

He smiled again for a second. "My pleasure."

* * *

Transfiguration passed wonderfully. We were turning pigeons into doves, and- apart from one alarming incident where my pigeon fluttered off unexpectedly and I gave my desk soft white plumage- I did rather well.

"I like the eye-colour change- good detail, Miss Ames." Prof Burns pointed out my dove's blue eyes, and then everyone else's with retained brown. "O'Kelly, I don't know what you've done to your bird, but it looks more like a duck. Stop paying so much attention to Miss Parrish and you might get somewhere."

The entire class giggled, except Max, who I'm sure laughed in a very manly, non-gossipy way.

"Ah. I see. Well, good luck to you two, and if you're so good as to pay no attention whatsoever to my class, I'll be sure and give you detentions together."

His wink and perpetual smile told us all he was joking, but Finn's bird certainly got daintier after that.

* * *

Our after-lunch break was spent almost exclusively skulking around Hagrid's hut, waiting for double Creatures to begin.

There were interesting noises emerging from the rustic home, and we were therefore suitably interested.

When the massive man finally emerged from his hut, he was hauling a large crate.

"Got summat a little dif'rent today." Hagrid beamed, pointing at the crate, which shook and emitted several indignant squeaks.

The rest of the class arrived, and joined us in staring in fearful anticipation.

"Hagrid, on a scale of one to ten, how dangerous is whatever's in that crate?" Max asked, arms crossed.

"Wha'? Hardly dangerous at all."

"By your standards or ours?" Pheonix grinned.

"Look- They may be a little rude, mind, but there's no 'arm in 'em." He pulled another box from behind his back. "Ev'ryone take a few rats, that's tha way..."

"Eiw!" Minuetta drew her hand away, noticing the rats were freshly killed.

"This is disgusting, _Professor_." Celina sneered.

We stared at her. "Did you just agree with Minnie?" Pheonix spoke slowly.

"No. She was ineloquent and dim, as per usual-"

"You- you shut up!" The Hufflepuff girl I knew only as _Davies_ shook as she stood up to Celina.

"Now, now, that's enough- Mussvolen, don' be rude. And Phi- don' goad 'er." He eyed Pheonix, but she only smiled.

"Yes, Hagrid."

"Alrigh', now, everyone got some rats?"

We all nodded that we had. The three in my hand were dripping something vaguely sticky down my wrist, but since a few years ago, when I had gone with Guillame to help our muggle neighbours with the cattle slaughter after their patriarch broke his leg, this was nothing.

"Okay. I'm gonna let 'em out now- take a Jarvey each, there should be enough-"

"_Jarveys_?" Richard looked ominous.

"Yep. Feed 'em the rats, they'll like yer."

I peered inside the crate as he opened it, wondering what a Jarvey was, since I didn't recognise the name.

What looked like a ferret came bouncing out, and almost attached itself to my hand in an attempt to get the rats.

I squealed in shock.

Celina, I could hear, was laughing nastily. I heard two boys laughing too, but they were both quickly silenced.

"_Parlfurets_." I gasped back to my brothers.

They both nodded and moved forward, now knowing what exactly we were dealing with. We'd had one burrow under the chicken coop once, frightening all the hens and offending our mother no end.

Hagrid made no attempt whatsoever to give us any theory. Most of the others seemed to know about them, anyway; overgrown ferrets, capable of rudimentary- and often just plain rude- speech.

Therefore, the next hour and a half passed in a rush of curses and laughter, from both the creatures and students. We fed the Jarveys and allowed them to call us names- some people called them names back, and in fact Didier's bopped him on the nose after one haughty insult.

"Don' antagonise 'em..." Hagrid pulled the creature off.

"'Ow was I supposed to know ze zing would speak French?"

"What'd you say?" Richard asked interestedly, clearly wanting some foul French to add to his repertoire.

"I zink it is 'ow you said it." I called over to him, having spent the last ten minutes laying some of my worst depredations on my Jarvey in a soothing tone, and emerging unscathed.

Hagrid was suddenly distracted by something. "Don' go teachin' 'em words, they know enough already." He growled at Celina, who was bent over whispering to hers.

"Oh, come on, it's not even out of order, what I'm teaching him. Basic values- what every dumb beast should learn." She smirked. "I believe that's the Hufflepuff motto, isn't it?"

Minuetta flushed bright pink, and her delicate fingers balled into fists.

Her friend stood up. "Leave off, you-" and then she said something that made Minnie gasp '_Beatrice!'_, and which several Jarveys gleefully repeated.

Celina walked towards the girls menacingly. "Think that's a trick, Davies? Try this one." She nodded at her Jarvey, who scooted through everyone's legs to pounce on Pheonix's shoulder and start yelling in her ear.

"Mudblood! Mudblood! Ya soddin' mudblood, ya phooey-"

Hagrid roared- really roared, like an animal. I backed up, right into Max, who grabbed my shoulders and held me steady. The mammoth professor ripped the Jarvey away, tossed it into the crate and turned on Celina.

"Don' you _ever_- _ever_ use tha' word. Clear? _Never_, Mussvolen."

She smirked, but her face was pale and her fingers shook even as she clasped them in triumph. "B-basic values- like I said."

"I'll give yer basic values- fifty points from Slytherin, an' detention fer you- go see de Morgan _righ' now_ ter sort it out. An' don't come back inter my class 'til you 'ave. Got it?"

Finally, the cool exterior cracked, and she nodded meekly. Turning on one hell, she marched back up to the castle, shaking either from rage or fear, I wasn't sure.

I damn well hoped it was fear, though.

* * *

Pheonix had taken the episode hard, and was invited in for a cup of tea by Hagrid after class. Adrien offered to stay with her, and Didier offered, with Richard, to spread the word that Celina had lost their House fifty points, just to get our own back.

I stayed with Lottie and Max, helping Minnie and Beatrice clean up after the class, which they had offered to do, feeling guilty that it was their argument that had led to Pheonix's upset.

Max attempted to appease them while we worked. "You know Celina and Phi- they've always hated each-other, it's not down to you two that she did that-"

"Poisonous cow." Lottie interrupted, throwing a piece of rat intestine at a tree in anger.

Minuetta giggled.

Bea scrutinized the tree, and _hmphed_ with satisfaction, "Looks like her face and all." All her charitable emotions I had seen had clearly run dry.

"What is ze point of zis _Pure-blood_ nonsense anyway?" I blurted. "_Alors, c'est tout de conneries_!"

My four companions nodded their agreement, even though only Charlotte understood what I'd said- and even then, only half.

Max was particularly fervent in his agreement. "Just because we're muggle-born doesn't mean we're sodding useless."

Charlotte agreed. "You're way smarter than that slimy bitch, Max."

"And nicer." Minuetta added.

"You've got a better sense of humour." Beatrice's voice was tinged with darkness.

Max waved his hand in a show of flattery. "Aw, gee, shucks."

Lottie laughed. "Shut up." She whacked his shoulder.

I was smiling, pleased with the fact we'd finished scraping rat guts off the manicured grass, and continued to be just as content as we sat down on the now clean lawn to continue our discussion.

"Hey, Flo?" Max asked suddenly.

"_Oui_?"

"You lived on a farm, right- that mean you're muggle-born?"

I laughed. "No. I am... 'alf-blood, I zink."

"You think?"

I shrugged. "My fazer was from an old magic family. My mozer was muggle-born- it was 'er parents' farm. _Ferme d'Ames_."

Charlotte looked surprised. "Does that mean... you took on your mother's name?"

I could see from everyone else's looks they hadn't picked it up. "_Oui_. After my fazer told 'is parents zat 'e was wanting to marry a muggle-born, zey... _déshérite-il._" I glanced around for any chance that Lottie could supply me with the English. She shook her head. "Er... exiled?"

"Cut him off?" Max asked.

"Oh! Disinherited!" Lottie got my answer- then realised what I'd said. "That's awful."

"Prats." Max spat.

"Zey were not nice. We spent some of our _vacances_ zere, when I was were always rude about _Maman_." I coughed. "Mind you, my _mamie- _grandmozzzer- was never very liking of magic."

Beatrice shook her head. "Sometimes I'm glad my family's so simple." At my glance, she elaborated. "My parents both went to this School." She gestured up at the castle. "Together since their sixth or seventh year, I think."

"Aw, that's sweet." Minnie cooed.

I was sure the others were continuing their conversation, but I was off in my own world, remembering the last trip we had taken, up past Lyon, to our Grandparents...

* * *

_**Etienne.  
Being privy, as your father is, to the intake of Beauxbatons students, we were lately surprised to hear of the entrance of one Guillame Etienne Ames- the offspring of you, our son, and evidently that muggle-born.  
Your father and I are frankly astonished we have had no news of this grandson of ours, as we rather expected to be informed when our noble bloodline was passed on (The fact that this boy does not bear our name, I might add, causes your father no little distress).  
We therefore, in light of this discovery, invite the child to spend his Christmas break with us, as it's far too far to travel all the way back to that southern abode of yours- if indeed you are still in residence, which I must confess we hope against- from Charles de Gaulle. It would be far more suitable for the boy to travel to Lyon, where we can take him for Christmas.  
Your Mother.**_

_I finished reading the copy of the years-old letter and looked up at Cina._

_"How dare they?" Didier hissed, having read over my shoulder._

_Adrien nodded, also doing the same. "So rude."_

_I shook my head. "Did they really not know about us until then?"_

_Cina pulled a second letter out of her pocket. "Really. Look- I found the reply they got, too."_

**_Mother-  
__I'm not surprised you were surprised to hear you had a grandson, since if you remember, words were had shortly before I married 'that muggle born', who is in fact called __Marie__, and would probably prefer that title, words which directly relate, funnily enough, to not only being unaware of Guillame, but also Capucine, Adrien, Didier and Florence. And __I__might add that those words are also the reason I took Marie's name for my family, and even why we haven't talked in almost twelve years.  
__If, however, you're willing to become part of my family again, I'd be only too happy to let the kids stay with you for a while. Of course, that's on the condition that it's not over Christmas, since Guy will be returning to us (yes, we're still 'in residence' at the Farm), and as more of them enter school, they will be staying there, and that __not a single word__ is spoken against their mother, who is as good a witch as I am a wizard, if not better.  
__After Guy's school year, we could organise a visit. He will be eleven by then, Cina will be nine, and the triplets, Adri, Dids and Flo will be six. They're a bit of a handful, but I'd like it if you could know your grandchildren.  
__-Etienne._**

_"Twelve years?" I asked in surprise._

_"That's a really long time." Didier let his mouth drop open as he said possibly the stupidest thing since he'd first learned to talk._

_Adrien rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it is."_

_"I mean, we're only thirteen. Imagine not talking to _Maman et Papa_ for almost our whole lives." I whistled._

_"And see?" Cina pointed to some underlined sections. "They really do hate _Maman_."_

_Just then, Guy walked in. "What're you all up to?"_

_"Reading." Cina thrust the letters in our brother's direction. He adjusted his glasses and mouthed the words as he read them._

_His face darkened. "Cina- where'd you find these?"_

_"Grand-pere's study. See? Always told you they hated-"_

_"I know!" Guy cut her off. "Of course I know that. It's just that I don't want-"_

_"Let's get all that muggle nonsense out of your heads!" Didier imitated grand-mere's imposing voice._

_"Farming? Farming is muggle's work, and best left to them!" I giggled, playing along._

_"Us sorcerers are given to loftier things than cultivating muddy holes in the ground." Adrien finished my quote off._

_Guy turned to Capucine. "I don't want the triplets to know that. They're kids, Cina."_

_"We're thirteen!" I protested._

_"And we hate _grand-mere_ and _grand-pere_ just as much as you." Adrien added._

_"If not more," Didier complained. "_Grand-mere_ doesn't hex the dirt off _your_ nose, does she?"_

_"Enough!" Guy shouted, making us all fall into silence. "There's not much we can do about this-"_

_"I want to go home." I said it very quietly, but Guillame heard._

_His face instantly softened, and he held one of my hands gently. "I'll talk to them, okay? Cina, you stay here. Don't want this turning into another row."_

_Cina sat on one of the grand couches as Guy left, and beckoned us over. We heaped ourselves onto her delicate frame and mucked about playing stacks on, plaiting each-other's hair and telling jokes until we heard loud yells._

_Guillame had clearly gotten into a shouting match with our grandparents._

_"Don't want it to be a row..." Cina muttered. We laughed._

_We were still laughing when the House-elves took our cases out into the street and closed the door in our faces._

_Guy grimaced in a show of being upset, a grin fighting to emerge. "You know, I don't think they're going to want us back next year."_

* * *

"Flo, you coming?"

I roused myself, realising it was beginning to get dark. The others were standing, Max just having nudged me.

"Oh- _oui, pardon_."

"It's almost dinnertime." Charlotte explained.

"'Ave Pheonix and Adrien come out yet?" I eyed Hagrid's hut.

"No, but they'll be fine. He's probably just given them something to eat." Max grinned. "It takes a while to chew..."  
I didn't bother to get an explanation for his comment, content just to accompany the others back up to the castle.

The Hufflepuffs bade us farewell in the entrance hall, heading in the opposite direction to us.

Max looked at his watch. "We've got just enough time to get changed before dinner."

I stared at my shirt- once white and crisp, neatly laundered like all my clothes, it was now crumpled, stained with rat guts and ripped a bit where my Jarvey had grabbed me a few times.

"Good idea." I led the way upstairs.

* * *

By the time we had changed and come down again, the Hall was filling up. We scurried around the clumps of people, aiming for our usual seats.

"Why so late?" Tammy asked conversationally as we finally thumped down.

"Creatures." Lottie grunted.

"How's that an excuse for being late to dinner?" Stephanie asked.

"Just because you always turn up ten minutes early for any meal..." Diana teased.

Charlotte answered the question anyway. "A combination of bloody Jarveys, and bloody Celina Mussvolen."

"Screw her." Arica speared a piece of lamb rather more violently than was required.

We all agreed loudly.

Nathan leaned over. "Apparently her Slytherin fanclub's looking a little thin on the ground, recently, too."

Dan grinned. "Guess who lost her House fifty points today?"

"No way." Steph gasped.

"Look at the hourglass." Nate winked.

"And Mussvolen's face." Dan added.

"Not to mention her friends' faces."

"Ooh yeah."  
Didier and Richard had clearly done their job well. Charlotte, Max and I shared a smile.

* * *

"_J'irais jusqu'au bout du monde, je me ferais teindre en blonde, si tu me le demandais- j'irais décrocher la Lune-_" I plucked my mandolin strings innocently, staring pointedly at Grace.

Charlotte had her face buried in a pillow, trying very hard not to laugh.

"What is that song?" Diana asked, coming to sit next to me, leaning against the end of my bed, as I was.

"Edith Piaf." I replied cagily.

"Is it really?" Grace asked. "My dad loves her!"

I smiled; glad she didn't know the exact song.

"I know it's Piaf, Flo- what song?" Diana pressed.

Lottie put her chin on her hand and stared at me expectantly.

"Err... _hymne a l'amour_." I answered quickly.

"Ode to loooove!" Lottie threw her hands into the air, enjoying my moment of exposure. "Finn and Grace, Finn and Grace, Gracie Gracie..."

Grace's eyes narrowed. "Why, you- I _wondered_ why you were ogling me!" She leaped for me, and I dodged, squealing, out of the way.

Tammy helpfully leaned in and grabbed my mandolin out of harm's reach, stowing it safely in the case before throwing herself into the fun melee that was fast developing.

A pillow whacked me in the face. I blinked to see Arica grinning at me, crooking on finger in a _come on; bring it_ motion.

Roaring, I grabbed my own pillow and hit back.

Everyone was now involved- Stephanie was bouncing up and down, singing some nonsense song about Grace and Finn being in a tree, doing something with the alphabet, before Diana hit her and managed to explode her pillow.

We all stopped and stared at what looked like indoor snow. It suddenly got very quiet.

Meekly, we spit out downy feathers and retreated to our own beds, hoping the House-elves wouldn't be too upset by the fluffy carnage left in our dormitory.


End file.
